


city nights. [chensung.]

by nctisgay, ujiyoung



Category: NCT (Band), We Go Up - NCT Dream (Music Video)
Genre: <3, And MarkHyuck, Angst and Feels, Enjoy!, Everyone's a little bit gay, M/M, NCT Dream - Freeform, and johnten, chensung - Freeform, depression & sadness, features norenmin, haha you've been warned, kpop, park jisung - Freeform, this is pretty gay and sad, two highly fucked human beings wrote this, zhong chenle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-01-20 17:27:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18529756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nctisgay/pseuds/nctisgay, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ujiyoung/pseuds/ujiyoung
Summary: “ 1am knows all my secrets .”





	1. [one.]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sadistically fucked humans](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=sadistically+fucked+humans).



_"The sun is up, and your ass should be, too. Get the fuck out of bed, Park Jisung."_

_"Fuck off, Nana-hyung."_

_"You're gonna rot in here. When's the last time you showered?"_

_"The last time I felt happiness."_

Normally gentle footsteps were now stomping across the floor, before a hand reached across and ripped the blankets down, revealing the crippled state of Park Jisung. 

Squinting up at his tormentor, the disgusted face of Na Jaemin stared unflinchingly back at him. 

"Take a shower you sick fuck." 

The younger rolled his eyes, crinkling his nose in complaint. Kicking the elder back, he lazily swung his legs over the side of his bed. Dizziness passed over him quickly. 

His gaze wavered to the other boy in his room, who was standing with his arms crossed, and an unimpressed look on his face. 

"I'm going out today with Jeno and-"

"If you think I'm going out to third-wheel you and your boyfriend-"

"You haven't been out of this house in how long?"

"I've got a streak that I've gotta keep up with." The younger shrugged.

Jaemin sighed, running a hand through his fluffy, pink hair. 

"You stress me out, kid."

"I'm one year younger than you. Shut the fuck up."

Inhaling deeply, he pointed a short finger at Jisung.

"Curse at me one more time and see what happens."

Jisung finally stood up, his bones cracking from lack of use as he stretched his arms above his head.

"Whatever, go have fun with your boyfriend. I'm gonna take a shower."

The elder pursed his lips, squinting his eyes in question. 

"Will you be joining us, perhaps?"

The half-awake teen just shrugged, walking to the bathroom connected to the small den he called his bedroom. Before he closed the door behind him, he lazily waved a hand over his shoulder and shouted:

"What are you, my mother? Get out of my house." 

Curses erupted from the elder as Jisung shut the door behind him with a snicker.

"Aish, Jisung! I'm just looking out for you! Stop being a little shit!"

Silence fell in the air, the sound of the shower starting interrupting it.

"Just text me and be careful. Alright?" Jaemin's gentle voice mumbled stubbornly from outside the bathroom door. 

Jisung stared at his disheveled figure in the mirror, examining the black bags under his irritated eyes, his slouched posture, and permanent frown lining his plump lips. His messy, untamed hair that had not been washed in a week. The baggy t-shirt that was drooping off of his skinny figure. 

"Alright, Nana-hyung."

Padding footsteps were heard before the closing of Jisung's bedroom window signaled that he was alone, yet again. He let out a sigh before stepping into the shower. It was already warm, he might as well use it. Besides, he really didn't need to waste more of the water bill. 

Thirty minutes later, he stepped out to be met with the same bags under his eyes and skinny figure. The only difference shining back from the mirror was his lack of greasiness. After getting changed, he threw himself back into his bed, planning on sleeping yet another day away. 

But the moment he closed his eyes, sleep wouldn't come. 

He was thinking about Jaemin, and how worried he was. He was thinking about how happy Jaemin should be now that he had Jeno. He was thinking about how much of a burden he was truly becoming. That the older felt the need to come here every day and try to get him out of bed. Try to make him be alive with the rest of the world. When though he really, really didn't want to.

Opening his eyes, he made up his mind quickly. He was going out today. Maybe he could get some food from the nearby convenience store to last him another week of hibernation. 

Anything to stop where his mind was going at the moment.

So, for the second time that day, Park Jisung dragged his tired body out of bed. Only this time, it was surprisingly of his own accord. Throwing on a hoodie, he desperately bounced on the heels of his feet, trying his hardest to motivate himself more to do this. 

In a few minutes, his shoes were on, his hood was up, and he was out the door.

Glaringly bright sunlight greeted him as he squinted at the world around him. It seemed so busy and hectic. He let out a sigh as his tired feet took him onwards, down the familiar route to the convenience store. 

It was so odd. Seeing people in the daylight. Seeing faces. Seeing strangers. Seeing other humans walking in the same direction as him. He just wasn't used to it, as sad as that sounded.

_"Wow, you can survive in the daylight?"_

Jisung's eyes flicked over to the beaming cashier, taking notice of how the man was always in a good mood. He was always working here, every time Jisung came here during the night. The man was always very nice. Too nice, sometimes. With that, the boy gave a small wave, shuffling down a random aisle after picking up a basket.

The store was mostly quiet, minus the soft music playing from the speakers and the soft talking of the few customers that came and went. It was one of the only places Jisung didn't mind going that was outside the premise of his house. 

Letting out a small yawn, the boy began mindlessly picking out food that would be his supply for however long it lasted. A week or two was an accurate estimate. Placing everything into his basket, he made his way to the drinks. Stopping to briefly observe his haggard expression in his reflection, he shook his head to pick out the beverages he wanted. He filled the rest of his basket and turned to head up to the counter when a flash of bright color caught his eye.

Looking up, his eyes caught sight of a boy with faded green hair standing in front of him, talking to the cashier as he waited in line. 

"Your hair is so obnoxious, kid." The man behind the counter chuckled.

The green-haired boy's head tilted slightly as a loud, high-pitched cackle erupted from his mouth. Jisung blinked a few times, trying to figure out what he had just heard.

"Shut up, grandpa!" The younger boy exclaimed, handing the cashier money.

Taken aback from the supposed rudeness, Jisung was reminded of his own cash in his pocket. Digging his hands into his hoodie, he grabbed it all in one hand, flinching as the piercing  _ping_  of a coin hitting the floor echoed dully throughout the store. 

The green-haired boy turned around at the noise, his eyes scanning over the taller boy with orange hair peeking out from under his black hood, who cursed softly under his breath. The green-haired male hummed, turning around to the cashier again who handed him his bag. 

"Thank you, Johnny-hyung! Have a good day." 

"You too, kid. See ya."

Jisung watched the boy shove the change in his pockets as he headed towards the door, glancing back once more in his direction before leaving. Jisung blinked a few times, his eyes glued to the door.

"Yo kid, you awake?" The cashier, Johnny suddenly called out, snapping the younger from his shortened daze.

Jisung nodded, clearing his throat before stepping up to the counter, placing his basket on top. Johnny eyed the younger who's eyes were down as he arranged his mess of bills. 

"There a reason you're here this early? I usually don't see you till around 1 or 2 am."

Jisung didn't say anything, wishing deep in his soul that Johnny would just shut the fuck up and scan his things. The elder nodded.

"Gotchya."

In a minute or so, he was taking his bags from Johnny and handing him a 20$ bill. He was handed his change, shoving it in his pocket as he turned to leave.

"Have a good day, kid. Take care of yourself."

Jisung's mouth twitched as he turned over his shoulder.

"You too, Johnny-hyung." He replied softly, barely giving a smile.

He turned around and exited the happy atmosphere, back to his apartment where he could wait in unsettled silence until the night comforted him again.


	2. [two.]

Night came slower than he could have hoped for.

When the day finally ended and he looked out the window to see the moon's white glow, he had more than enough time to ponder and over think. At this point, he was more than ready to walk down the streets alone, his only source of light coming from the dimly lit streetlights, flickering out windows, and the sky.

He proceeded with the same routine he did every night, only with less feeling and more serenity.

Yet again, in a few minutes, his shoes were on, his hood was up, and he was out the door.

Walking down the dark street was a familiar pattern to the sunken boy. He knew what happened on this route of his. He knew how to avoid the bad alleyways and delinquent streets. He knew the married couple who had a steadily declining relationship in that house on the corner. He knew the old man who stayed outside on his rocking chair three houses down from where he was currently. He knew the stray cat that always stalked the birds by the stop sign on the corner. He knew everything.

And tonight, he really needed a break.

So he made a left instead of a right around 4 blocks down, hoping that despite however miserable he was, he wouldn't get the absolute shit beaten out of him by some gang for walking a different way.

For a while, everything was going smoothly.

Still, not a soul was in sight and he had been carefully monitoring the turns he was making so he would remember the way back. But, after a rather hastily decided left turn, he found himself standing still.

He had not run into a gang, or discovered a magically serene clearing. But he turned down this road and there was nothing there. The road led to three houses then stopped. It was a dead end. That, however, was not what caught his eye.

What did catch his eye was the bright green-haired individual who was sitting on the curb at the end of it, silently watching a bird on a nearby tree under a dull street light that flickered every ten seconds.

Now, Jisung was a very rational person. He was depressingly realistic, which must be a real shocker. But he knew the statistics of nearly every stranger related crime. He wasn't outgoing; he didn't even like other human beings.

So, of course, he walked over to the green haired boy.  
The said boy looked up for a second, squinting in confusion before jumping up and exclaiming:

"You're that super depressed, anti-social, orange-haired kid from the store!"

Jisung jumped slightly, trying his best not to act too surprised. Even though, he _was_ surprised. And slightly nervous. The boy, with the brightest smile anybody could ever possibly fathom, jogged over to him like Jisung was a buddy of his.

"I'm Chenle! I saw you behind me in line at the store, you dropped a coin. A dime, was it? No, a quarter. A penny? I don't know, but you dropped it and it made a loud noise, so I turned around! And it was you! You're quite tall. I've never seen you before. You have a really adorable face! You looked so sad though, and that just made me a little sad too. You looked stone cold, like you've never felt any emotion. Do you know Johnny-hyung? I love Johnny-hyung. He's so sweet and his boyfriend Ten is also so sweet I love them both! They both work there. OH, by the way- what's your name?"

Jisung just stood there as this novel of words spilled passed the shorter boy's lips. He wasn't even sure what just happened, and he wasn't sure he processed everything that was said. So, he just stood there, watching the green-haired boy bounce on his heels, the smile never leaving his lips. Jisung narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"My name is Jisung, and you're an absolute asthma attack."

The shorter boy tilted his head curiously.

"What does that mean?"

Jisung sighed.

"You're fucking loud and annoying."

And within the next second, the same laugh that Jisung heard when he was in line at the store erupted. Except for this time, it was louder, and even more high-pitched than before. The boy sounded exactly like a dolphin. Having an asthma attack, as Jisung previously had mentioned.

"Literally what is so funny?"

The boy continued to laugh, bending over and practically crippling in it as he gasped for air and for words. Jisung just sighed, beginning to ponder as to why this was happening, to him of all people. The one time he took a different route. And he began to think, why did this kid point out that he looked... depressed and emotionless? It was true, Jisung always looked disassociated from the world around him, but the fact that this kid spoke up about it surprised him. Like he actually cared to notice.

"So, _hollow boy_ , why are you sad?"

The taller of the two flinched, being brutally ripped from his train of thought by an expectant gaze and an admirably blunt question. He narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not."

"But you are," came the rebuttal.

"What does it matter to you? I have literally never met you before except when I dropped a loud ass coin behind you in the line. I also called you an asthma attack, which I don't know if you've realized this, but that's a pretty damn horrible thing to say." He spat, genuinely feeling all of his words.

The smaller's brow furrowed, and there was a brief moment of hesitation before a large, overbearing smile was back on his face.

"Because you're human!"

That definitely wasn't the response he expected. He opened his mouth to question Chenle, but he noticed the other boy was walking away from him down the other side of the dead-end street. He turned back towards Jisung, tilting his head in confusion.

"Well? Are you coming?"

_No_ , is what he absolutely should have said. He definitely did _not_ want to walk next to an obnoxiously talkative, hyperactive celery stick.

However, did he really want to go back to walking on his own? In all honesty, he had nothing better to do. At least that's what he was going to tell himself.

Jisung's legs led him to follow the boy without really thinking twice about it.

"Have you ever read about the meanings behind flowers? I used to have this book I read about them all the time. My favorite flower is probably the Gerbera. It's a type of daisy, so it has the same meanings as them, but at the same time, it conveys cheerfulness. I think that's a majorly important part of life, you know? And the flower itself is so plain looking in comparison to other flowers, and yet in the daisy family it really stands out. To symbolize cheerfulness even though you'll never be like the rest of your kind, and you'll never be exuberant enough for the other flowers around you? That makes it even more beautiful, you know? Actually, you kind of remind me of a Heather Lavender. They symbolize admiration, solitude, and beauty. You're, like, super admirable for even still being here despite being literally hollow, and that's really beautiful to me if that makes any sense? And you're, like, alone. I think. I don't want to assume but you seem far too sad to really be that social. I know I talked about beauty a lot, I'm sorry. It's just important. Not enough people appreciate everything around them. Ew, I know, that sounded really cheesy and dumb."

Jisung has single-handly never heard a human being talk so much at one time. And about flowers...? What was with this kid? Though, he trailed behind the male still, who turned around with a grin, skipping up to Jisung who half-wanted to nudge him away.

"You'd make such a pretty flower. You should smile more, I think it would look really good on you. A smile can make you happy for a few seconds, even if you're not in the moment. Do you think when we all die, we become flowers? I like to think so. Flowers are so peaceful and beautiful, I'd like to be at that much peace one day. Oh my gosh, a rabbit!"

The rambling and change of topics was so quick and excessive that Jisung swore he was having a stroke just listening to this boy.

It went on like this for what seemed like forever. The shorter male rambling about everything and anything, and the taller nodding along and following him like some sort of incredibly pissed off dog.

The younger was still going on about a cat he had seen the other day when he came to a sudden halt.

Turning around, he eyed the other who was looking at him in confusion.

"You're tired," were the words that left his mouth.

Blinking, Jisung had to admit it was very true. But at the same time, he _really_ didn't want to go back to his apartment. So, instead he just shook his head and waved his hand to brush the boy off. This brought a wry smile to the other's face.

" _Yes, you are._ And it's getting late, or early I guess, anyway. Plus, we've kind of reached where I usually stop every night, so I'm definitely gonna head back now, so..."

Jisung sighed, "Well, if you're gonna go back I might as well, too."

There was no way _in hell_ he was going to admit the other was right.

"Right," came the reply, a knowing twinkle in Chenle's eyes.

"So, I'll meet you again tomorrow night?"

"That would be a _no_ , asthma attack."

"Alright, see you then, hollow boy!" The green-haired male shouted over his shoulder as he skipped away.

Later that night, Jisung was laying in his bed, thinking of the whole situation that had occurred a few hours earlier. He wanted to say he was thoroughly _pissed_ , but at the same time the other boy was intriguing. Closing his eyes, he let sleep take over him, thoughts of green hair and rapid speech filling his head.


	3. [three.]

_"Again? Park Jisung, do you ever do anything but sleep?"_

The orange haired male was rudely awoken from his slumber as a pillow was thrown at his face. 

He groaned.

"I had a long night, was any of this really necessary?"

" _It's 1:00!_ Therefore, yes!" 

This exclamation was accompanied by a burst of cold air as the sheets around Jisung were pulled down to his ankles. It was followed by a sigh.

"You should really get out during daylight, you know."

Bleary eyes blinked up at the older, who was staring down at his friend with something akin to pity spread across his facial features. 

He closed his eyes, feeling the bed comfortably cradling his body underneath him and lulling back to his mind, where sleep was a breath away. Falling almost swiftly into the land of dreams, a flash of green and flick of annoyance brought him back to reality. 

_What if he saw Chenle today?_

He tuned back into what Jaemin was saying to hear yet another invitation to leave the solitude of his apartment. 

"...and I know you refuse nearly every day, but seriously, you ought to get out of the house more. Jeno and I are going to this café nearby, and I really think this will be good for you-"

"Yeah sure."

A silence spread over the friends as the older peered down at Jisung. 

"What?" Asked a dumbfounded Jaemin.

"My curiosity has been peaked," replied the other with a shrug. He didn't mention it wasn't the café that piqued his interest, but a certain green-haired individual who couldn't seem to get out of his head. 

He was rewarded with a bright grin and a swift push off his bed.

_"What the fuck?"_

"Hurry up and get ready to go," was the only explanation he received. Huffing, he got up, made a show of brushing himself off while glaring at the grinning elder.

In fifteen minutes, he was about ready to go and being dragged out the door.

"I'm so proud of you for getting out. Jeno and I were talking yesterday about how we were getting seriously concerned. Plus, he misses you. It's been a while since you've joined us in one of our outings, you know?"

Jisung nodded absentmindedly as he looked around. Like yesterday, the world in color and daylight was not one he was very familiar with. It was still a little overwhelming, and he felt the urge to go back home and curl up and sleep settle itself in his gut. But as he glanced back at his friend's face, he took in his words. He had been causing him worry, when he should have been happy with Jeno. He didn't want to be the cause of his friends' worry, and the happiness in his eyes was enough to solidify his decision. 

Soon enough, the two were entering a little café maybe three blocks away. Jisung vaguely recalled walking past this last night, but he wasn't paying enough attention to really comprehend what it was. They walked in and walked over to where a grinning Jeno was waving frantically to them. 

"Well, if it isn't my favorite child. You look... fresh," Jeno greeted with a smirk.

"I'm not your child, and I know I look like shit. The daylight scars me, we've discussed this."

This earned him a snort. 

"Well, it's good to see you anyway. It's been a while," Jeno responded, smiling warmly. 

Jisung fought back a smile of his own. 

Him and Jaemin sat down, the older sliding next to his boyfriend while Jisung sat across from them. 

He still wasn't accustomed to human interaction, really, so he found himself watching the other two much more than actually talking himself. They were highly amusing, and he didn't feel like he was third-wheeling at all. In fact, he felt more at ease than he had in a while. He wasn't being forced to converse, but at the same time he was being included through glances and chuckles. The time flew by faster than he anticipated, and soon he was blinking back disappointment as the two stood to leave. Jeno turned to look him in the eye.

"We were thinking of heading to the mall, get some stuff that we need. Do you want to come with..?"

There was a hopeful glint in the other's eye, and Jisung was pained to think these two had to be hopeful for him to go anywhere with them.

"Yeah... sure."

The grin on Jeno's face was enough to make anyone feel at least an ounce of joy as Jaemin grabbed his boyfriend's hand, and then Jisung's.

"Then c'mon! It's a miracle I get to have my two favorite people with me at the same time." Jaemin chimed, pulling the two boys out the door. 

Jisung let a small smile fall onto his lips. He missed them, and there was no denying it. Nobody could ever walk up to him and tell him that he hated Jaemin or Jeno. Because they would just be wrong.

The three boys headed back to Jaemin and Jeno's apartment a few blocks in the other direction, all piling into Jaemin's small car, Jeno riding shotgun and Jisung riding in the back. He hadn't been in the older's car in a while. He missed the squishy seats and the vintage smell. And the stupid hood songs Jaemin always played. Totally not because he got a CD stuck in the player and it was all that could be put on.

"Fucking asshole! Step on the goddamn gas pedal! It's the right one!"

"Minnie, please don't crash the car. We have the kid today."

"Listen, it's okay to be gay, straight, or black but it's never okay to stop at a yellow light knowing we both could have FUCKING MADE IT!"

Jisung suppressed laughs from the back seat. He somehow missed Jaemin's road rage, and the cleverly smartass comments he always screamed at other drivers who couldn't even hear him. Jisung's mouth twitched into a quick smile, his body relaxing into the soft seat till they reached the mall.

The day continued smoothly, and Jisung basically just followed where ever Jaemin and Jeno went. He wasn't bored, and he wasn't necessarily depressed either. It felt nice, to say the least. Though, he would be lying if he said his mind didn't wander back to his bed at the apartment, where he could be sleeping another day away.

Because when he slept, the night would come quicker. 

He wasn't sure how much later it was before he glanced outside. He took notice of the sinking sun and decided to head back to the apartment. Though it was stressful, he was proud of himself for getting out for such a sustainable amount of time. It was sad that was something to be proud of, but either way he was and he wasn't gonna take that away from himself.

"Hey, it's getting kind of late. I'm gonna head back to the apartment," he said, addressing the adorable couple in front of him. 

"Are you sure? You used to stay up past the morning with us," Jaemin said with a chuckle. 

A wry smile was brought the youngest's face. He forgot they didn't know about his nightly agenda. Either way, he was definitely not going the way he went last night ever again.

"Yeah, I think I've had enough humanity for today. But thank you guys for today. I had a lot of fun, and you two are both amusing and adorable to watch," he responded. 

He turned to Jeno one last time, trying to convey all of his thoughts in his eyes.

_Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for being there for Jaemin. Thank you for showing him that a relationship can last, and thank you for making him so happy when I can't._

Jeno met his eyes evenly and smiled, warm and comforting and welcoming. 

"You're always welcome, Jisung."

Those were the words that prompted Jisung to walk back to his apartment at his slightly accelerated pace because if he stayed any longer he would most definitely be bawling his eyes out and holding himself close to the couple. 

The moment he got home, he fell into the bed and slept.


	4. [four.]

Of course, he woke up probably thirty minutes after midnight without an ounce of weariness in his body. And of course, this was the time he would have to force himself to go outside and walk until he was actually tired again. And of course, he was not going the way he went last night. Definitely _not_.

Okay, so he was.

When he rounded the corner of the dead-end street, he noticed the same small, green-haired boy sitting in the same spot. A grin lit up the boy's face.

" _Hollow boy!_ Or Jisung was it? I'm glad you came!"

Already, Jisung's face was twitching in annoyance. And it was most definitely not him fighting back a smile.

"I'm glad you at least remembered my real name. Chenle, right?" The taller muttered.

Chenle grinned.

"Hey you didn't call me asthma attack today, that's a good start! You seem less hollow today, what happened? Did my presence cheer you up that greatly?"

"You wish. I just went out with some friends today."

"You, in the daylight? Why does that surprise me?"

"Yeah, why does that surprise you? We met a night ago. Why would you know if I hibernate or not?"

"Happy people don't hibernate."

"Fuck you."

"You wish."

Jisung opened his mouth then closed it, a light pink settling itself over his face.

"First of all, that's just vulgar and vile. Second of all no, I actually don't."

Chenle laughed at that, his loud dolphin laugh echoing around the quiet night.

"Alright alright. But seriously, what did you guys do?"

At that, Jisung smiled. Beckoning for the smaller to follow, he started to walk down a random route, not entirely sure where he was going, but too happy to be talking about his friends to really care.

"Well, I wasn't really going to go out today, but Jaemin peaked my curiosity when he talked about this cute café he and his boyfriend were going to-"

"Wait, is that the one that's like three blocks down from here? I've been wanting to go there for a while now. Was it any good?"

"Yes, it's that one. And it was amazing." The taller sighed, muttering, "I can't believe I actually thought you'd be able to listen long enough to a story."

" _No wait!_ I'm sorry I won't interrupt again. Please continue."

He sent a glare to the other, receiving a sheepish grin in response.

And the other was true to his word. Jisung was happy to ramble about his day, ranging from Jeno's awkward remarks in passing the lingerie shop at the mall to Jaemin's unhealthy road rage and snarky comments. All the while, Chenle actually listened intently, nodding along to the parts he agreed with and smiling at the parts he found funny. A few times he even held his hand over his mouth to cover his laugh, just barely managing to minimize his crazed hyena laugh to a giggle.

"-and Jaemin's been my friend for like, forever. He's been there for me always, and I've been there for him. I've seen the relationships he's been in and he hasn't had the best luck, so I'm really glad he found Jeno."

Jisung finished off his rambling with a smile, thinking back to his friend's happy face.

"So, this Jeno, is he nice to you too?" Chenle asked, curiosity evident in his tone.

"Oh my god yes. He's like the warmest, kindest, most welcoming person I've ever met. He's just always there, you know? He gets why I'm so close with Jaemin, and he's never jealous at all. In fact, he says since I make Jaemin happy and look after him, it's his job to make me happy and look out for me as well. He literally came to my apartment to tell me that he never wanted me to feel like he's taking Jaemin away from me and that if I ever felt like that I should tell him and he'll back off a bit." Jisung sincerely stated.

"You should give them a hyacinth. It means playfulness and constancy, and it seems like they're playful and you want them to last, so..."

"You never shut up about flowers, do you?"

"Hey, flowers are awesome!" Chenle huffed, indignant.

"Sure they are."

Spotting one a few yards away, he grinned to himself, getting an idea.

"Well, if you're so knowledgeable, what's that flower?" He asked, looking back over at the other.

"That's a hydrangea. It means heartfelt emotions and gratitude for being understood. It can also mean cold and emotionless, in a negative sense."

Jisung smiled slightly, shortly admiring the boy’s talent. Chenle looked out into the night, a small smile coming to his lips.

"It's about time I head back, hollow boy. Say, try and get some sleep? I know it's dark out, but I can still see those even darker circles under your eyes." The smaller boy giggled, bouncing on his feet as he stopped walking to face Jisung.

Jisung had to keep his face from falling. Had it been that long already...? He was actually kind of enjoying his time with a green-haired boy who began to take steps backward in his own direction.

"I'll see you later! Thanks for opening up today, I want another story from you by tomorrow. Goodnight, hollow boy! Think of me!" Chenle called like Jisung was all the way down the road from him, even though it was just a few yards.

Once the other got a grip on his thoughts, he lifted a hand to wave shortly and call back:

"Goodnight, dolphin!"

The nickname slipped passed Jisung's lips before he could comprehend what he was saying. Chenle let out a hysterical laugh in response as he was already halfway down the road. Even then, Jisung could still hear him. God, he was so loud.

"Dolphin? I quite like that!"

Jisung couldn't help but half-smile, watching the smaller boy skip off for a couple of seconds longer before making his way back to his own place of residence. He felt different tonight. It was odd.

When Jisung climbed into bed, when his body sunk into his comfortable mattress, and when the blanket was thrown overtop of his tired body, the smallest of smiles came to his lips.

And he fell asleep like that. Just like that.


	5. [five.]

The next day he woke up with a small smile on his lips and a sense of determination he hadn’t felt in a while. He wanted to see if he could find Chenle in daylight today. Grinning, he pulled himself off the bed and called Jaemin. He was answered immediately.

“Why are you awake?”

Jisnung grinned at the blunt question directed to him as his greeting.

“Morning to you too, Nana hyung. Have you eaten breakfast yet?”

”No, why? I swear to god if this is some joke-“

”Would you want to go to that cafe we went to yesterday with me?”

”...sure?”

And that was the whole conversation. Ten minutes later, Jisung was ready to go and patiently waiting when he heard a knock at his door. When he opened it, he was met with Jaemin’s skeptical face.

“Are you ok?” Came Jaemin’s concerned question.

Jisung laughed at this.

“Yeah I’m fine. I just wanted to get out today.”

”Exactly.”

He laughed again.

Shaking his head and grabbing the other’s arm, he pulled them outside and started his walk.

Along the way, he kept getting curious glances from his companion.

When they finally arrived they ordered the same things they ordered the previous day, and started to chat about anything and everything. In all honesty, jisung missed this. It was nice to have some best friend to best friend time, despite how much they bickered and teased each other. During the conversation, Jisung made sure to keep his eye out for a certain green head.

Chenle had mentioned wanting to go here last night, so there was a chance that he would be here today.

“Ok, actually, what’s up?”

His thoughts were interrupted by the older, and he blinked in confusion.

“Huh? Nothing. Seriously,” was his response.

“You’ve been looking around this entire time. Are you looking for something? Someone?”

Jaemin’s brows were furrowed in confusion, causing the younger to blink incomprehensively back. A moment later he realized what the other was talking about.

“Oh, no it’s nothing. I just thought I saw someone. And I’ve been more attentive today than usual, mind you.”

He tried to brush it off, not necessarily wanting to go into an explanation about the green haired stranger he’d managed to slightly tolerate in the past two nights.

Definitely not to the point of growing fond at all.

“That’s bullshit. Yeah, you’ve been more attentive but that’s just because you’re not in your own head. Now you’re just getting distracted by something real. And you’ve been looking for it this whole conversation, even a bit as we walked here.”

Jisung fought back a scowl. Jaemin was right, but he really didn’t want to go into an explanation. Before he could respond, however, the other started to speak again.

”Are you hiding something from me?”

Goddamnit.

Jisung knew the other was guilting him. He knew the other knew he knew. And yet, he still felt bad.

Sighing, he shook his head and gave in.

”Okay so, I went out for a walk last night and met someone. And maybe I’m looking to see if they’re around. It’s nothing important.”

He deliberately left out his nightly routine.

Jaemin leaned forward, intrigue written cross his face.

“Oh? What do they look like? Wait, why are you looking for them? They aren’t a murderer, right? Are they nice?”

The younger sighed.

“First of all, yes they’re nice but slightly annoying. Second of all, they’re definitely not a murderer. And I’m looking for them because,” he paused.

Why was he looking for Chenle?

He had his friends if he wanted to talk. Not to mention Chenle was loud and annoying, and far too happy. It’s not like he had something to talk about with the shorter.

Deciding to avoid further suspicion from the now inspecting Jaemin, he just shrugged. The older’s eyes narrowed further in response.

”Well, what do they look like?”

Jisung thought for a moment before snorting.

”A cabbage.” He chuckled again before adding, “He’s got green hair, a relatively wide face, and he’s one of the shortest human beings I’ve ever met.”

”A cabbage-?”

”Sounds like a dolphin, won’t ever shut the fuck up. Literally so fucking annoying. But, he’s actually the cutest thing I’ve ever seen?”

Jisung’s eyes widened, his internal organs cringing. He did not just say that out loud. Not right now. Not in front of Na Jaemin.

The look on his best friend’s face already made Jisung suicidal about his entire existence, so only satan knows what will happen when he speaks.

“Cute? You said? Did you just say cute?”

Jisung hid his face in one big hand, looking out the window stubbornly.

“Will you shut up.”

”Jisung! I want to see this boy! You’ve never called someone cute before! Aw, kid, you’re growing up-“

”I’ll punch you.”

”I love you too, baby face. You’ve never shown this much interest in anything at all and I’m just-“

Jisung’s senses completely shut off as soon as he saw a flash of green, a color he trained his mind by now to locate and act on as soon as possible. He stood up, his chair flying back obnoxiously as his eyes narrowed down the street where he saw it, a hopeful look on his face.

And... nope. It wasn’t Chenle.

A sort of frown displayed itself on Jisung’s lips as he slouched back down in his chair, his best friend looking at him like he just pissed on the floor.

“What the fuck was that?”

Jisung just flipped him off, his demeanor falling back over his face.

“Nothing, you saw nothing.”

“Someone’s lying!”

”And someone’s about to get their ass beat!”

Jaemin gasped dramatically, a hand to his mouth before he scoffed, rolling his eyes as he spoke.

“Jeno already does that. There’s no need.”

”YOU’RE SO DISGUSTING!”

The day went on nicely. The two best friends sat for an hour more at the cafe, just talking and occasionally trying not to murder each other.

The two left the cafe and walked down to the river, where Jisung spotted a tuft of faded mint green across the way.

He double checked this time so he didn’t make himself look utterly stupid again and sure enough the annoyingly bright shortie was walking quickly away from the river.

He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Chenle!”

The boy didn’t seem to hear him and continued on his way, with his head down and walking quickly down an unfamiliar path.

Jisung frowned slightly, but let it go. He probably just didn’t hear him, oh well.

“Was that him?” Jaemin asked.

Jisung nodded.

”Yeah.”

The day gradually came to an end, and the sun was beginning to melt behind the hills. He walked home after saying goodbye to Jaemin, heading inside and sitting on his bed, staring at his clock.

He had a few hours before he would head out for the night.

He laid back against his bed, his eyes staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to take over. When it didn’t come, he turned on his side, focusing his eyes on the glowing numbers on his clock.

And he laid like that for the next three hours, unblinking, almost. When the eleven hit twelve, he was on his feet, throwing on a hoodie and his shoes.

His body was out the door thirty seconds later, walking up the empty, dark sidewalk, his feet taking him to the special spot.

He walked till he saw the green-headed human he’s been looking all day for. He was walking with his head down, that was till he heard Jisung’s footsteps. Much like a puppy excited to see it’s owner, he turned around with a hopeful look and a smile.

Jisung would be lying if he said he didn’t want to smile back.

“Hollow boy, ahoy!”

The other boy playfully rolled his eyes, walking closer to the cabbage.

“Ahoy, dolphin.”

Chenle grinned, his hand moving to gently tap Jisung’s nose.

“You look happy today, hollow boy.”

Jisung crinkled his nose.

“And you look happily annoying.”

Chenle cackled.

”That's my job, dumby.”

Chenle turned the other way, beginning to skip.

”Hey, how comes you don’t come out in the day?” Jisung asked the question before he could think twice.

The shorter turned back around with a startle at that.

”I come out in the day. You probably just don’t see me.” He responded with a frown.

”That seems unlikely, I was everywhere today.” Jisung countered. He was given a shrug in response.

“Well, I guess I like to hibernate too.”

Jisung blinked, but before he could respond the boy was happily skipping away again.

“Hey! Wait up!”

When the taller caught up, they started their nightly teasing, bickering, and story-telling. Jisung talked about his day with Jaemin and Chenle talked about his day sleeping and walking through the forest.

When 5 am reared his head, it was time to say goodbye.

"Goodnight, Jisung! Look for me tomorrow."

"Uh huh, and where will you be?"

Chenle just shrugged.

"Dunno. Somewhere."

Jisung just shook his head, sighing at the boy who hadn't stopped bouncing on his heels all night. The green-haired boy smiled.

"Goodnight now, hollow boy."

The taller boy didn't hold back his smile this time.

"Goodnight, dolphin."


	6. [six.]

The sun was starting to rise as Jisung dozed off, sleeping his way through much of the morning and some of the afternoon. His body awakened at three pm. Not on his own accord, however

"Jisung-ah."

"Mm."

"I'm going off to work. I just wanted to make sure you were up."

"Mm.”

"Jisung, get your ass out of bed. If you want company I can send Jeno over-"

"And I'm up."

Jaemin rolled his eyes as the messy teenager rolled out of his bed, his hair a mess and his clothes wrinkled.

"What will you be doing today?"

Jisung shrugged, running a hand through his explosion of orange hair as he shuffled to his dresser.

"Alright, well I have to go. Can you handle a day by yourself?"

Jisung turned around to his best friend, raising his eyebrows as he slowly started waking up.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

Jaemin shrugged, standing up from the edge of his bed.

"Dunno. You've been really extroverted recently."

Jisung tilted his head.

"I'll be fine. Have a good day, Nana-hyung."

Jaemin smiled.

"You too, kid."

Jisung was alone five minutes later. He was up now, and for once he didn't have the urge to crawl back into a hole and sleep the next three days away.

He decided he'd take a walk to the convenience store again. Surely not because he hoped he'd see a certain green-haired human.

His hoodie and shoes were on in a minute, and he was out the door walking up the painfully bright sidewalk full of color and light and other humans. Ew.

He arrived to the store five minutes later, the little bell signaling his entrance. His eyes went to the counter, where Johnny was there. He gave that friendly smile.

"Morning, kid."

Jisung gave a small wave, before shuffling down the nearest isle. Empty, and no green in sight. Hm, whatever. He'd get a drink anyways.

Making his way through the store, as he opened a freezer door to grab an iced green tea, he heard it. He heard that loud, annoying dolphin laugh. The laugh got cut off however when he stood up, looking around the store with wide eyes.

"Hollow boy!"

Jisung practically jumped, wondering where the fuck Chenle's voice was coming from.

"Jisung, in here!"

The taller boy looked back at fridge, finally seeing Chenle's face in an empty slot where they stock drinks. He was grinning, of course, that excited glint in his eyes.

"You scared the shit out of me." Was all Jisung said, hiding his happiness that the boy was even here in the first place.

"Well, you should have been looking where my voice was coming from idiot!"

"I didn't expect to be talking to you through a freezer!" Jisung retorted, but he let the smile he had been concealing grow across his face.

"Hold on a sec, I'll be right out." The smaller boy gestured for him to wait before disappearing.

When he reappeared, he was walking down the aisle with an older, short, blonde-haired male in tow. The two were talking animatedly in a language that Jisung couldn't understand, gesturing around and laughing loudly about god knows what.

"Jisung! Meet Ten, my friend!"

The youngest arched an eyebrow at the name, causing the newcomer to laugh at his expression. Ten offered his hand with a bright smile, shaking his hand a lot gentler than Jisung expected.

"Hello, my name's Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul. But you can call me Ten."

Jisung's mind stuttered as he processed the name he had just been given. It most definitely wasn't Korean... was it Chinese? No. Thai? Maybe.

When Jisung felt a nudge, he had almost forgotten to introduce himself back.

"I'm Park Jisung."

"And I'm Zhong Chenle!" The dolphin exclaimed, getting a snort from Jisung an eye roll from Ten.

"Wow, I had no idea." The youngest remarked.

His response was a quick pout before he was dragged to the front of the store by his arm, the pout replaced with a bright grin.

"Johnny-hyung, this is my friend Jisung! Jisung, this is Johnny-hyung." The smallest introduced.

Jisung smiled as he looked at Johnny, already knowing him from his many 1:00 am adventures to the store. Johnny gave him a warm smile, the kind a father would give his son.

"Hello again Jisung." The cashier greeted kindly. Jisung gave him back a smile of his own, waving shortly to the older boy.

When he turned back around to talk to Chenle however, he noticed Ten standing against a shelf with his arms crossed, looking at him with suspicion. Blinking in confusion, Jisung turned away just as he saw Ten frown slightly before a bright smile split his face to cover it up.

Jisung furrowed his brows before turning back to Chenle.

"So, it's not often that you bring a friend anywhere Chenle. How'd you two meet?" The Thai boy spoke up, walking over to the counter next to Johnny.

Chenle blinked at Ten, before turning to Jisung as if to ask permission.

The younger smiled before nodding in consent, causing an explosion of energy to erupt from the other boy.

"So! I was walking by the dead end street down the road, you know the one, with the birds that sit on the rusty stop signs and sleep and the flowers that grow out of the cracks in the concrete, yeah that one. I was walking, watching those same birds on that rusty stop sign and all of a sudden, I turn around and BAM! Orange hair."

Chenle dramatically explained, hand motions and all as he padded over to Jisung, grabbing the younger's arm and holding him close.

"And I was like, OH MY GOSH! You're that depressed emo kid from the store! You know, when I came here earlier that day and he was all like-"

Chenle paused momentarily, throwing his hood over his head, his face growing emotionless as his posture slouched. He was impersonating none other then Jisung. Little shit.

"So he was like- "Yeah, I'm Jisung. And you're an absolute asthma attack." And I was like, "what does that mean?" and he was like, "you're fucking loud and annoying" and I BEGAN TO LAUGH SO HARD and so we talked and I told him about flowers and I asked him, "hollow boy, why are you sad?" and he said he wasn't and I was like, yeah right because he clearly looked sad despite how pretty he was it made me sad to see such a pretty person sad, but yeah. After that, we talked a little more I told him to get some sleep and that I would see him tomorrow and he said no, but GUESS WHAT! I saw him the next day and the next day and, wow character development."

Ten and Johnny laughed as Chenle finished the story.

"Ok, so first of all, your laugh is fucking insane. There's a reason I called you an asthma attack. And second of all, you literally met me at this exact store when I dropped a coin, not that night on the street," Jisung remarked.

The smaller laughed.

"Well, I first talked to you that night, all though it's nice to know you care enough to remember that moment," he teased, laughing through the end of the phrase.

Jisung scowled.

"Of course I care, I looked like an absolute fucking idiot when I dropped a coin in front of a random ass stranger. Like, a fucking COIN, dolphin. Who does that? Why did I do that? Like, I couldn't just fucking take the coin and go? Of course I remember it, I'm gonna have PTSD from it the rest of my life."

At that Johnny let out a loud laugh.

"Jisung, it literally doesn't make a difference in anyone's lives."

"FUCK yes it does!"

Chenle just cackled.

"You're so cute. But hey, if you hadn't dropped that coin, I wouldn't have turned around at the noise, I wouldn't have seen your dumb orange hair hiding under your hoodie, I would have never recognized you on the street that night, and you would have never met me! How sad would that be, hollow boy?" Chenle exclaimed with a pout, that fit his face way too well, in Jisung's opinion.

The younger emitted a pained sigh. Though, he knew deep down and even on the surface that the cabbage was right. Frankly, he didn't know what he'd be doing right now if he hadn't met him. Probably sleeping another day away under a blanket of depression, wallowing in his own sadness.

"Very sad indeed, dolphin." Jisung said, hopefully sounding sarcastic and crude like all of the comments he gives the smaller boy.

But in reality, he meant every word.

-

It wasn't a few hours later when the shining sun started to melt down behind the hills, and it was time for the two boys to head their separate ways for the remaining hours.

They had spent the day away talking more with Ten and Johnny, and Chenle even took the younger to the back to show him how they stocked drinks.

They built a tower out of the empty cardboard boxes that they found, kicking it down when they were done, and Chenle laughed so loud Jisung swore he went deaf for a few minutes.

Let's just say this was the most fun he's had in forever with someone who wasn't Jaemin nor Jeno. This weird, warm feeling in his chest wouldn't go away, and for once, he wanted to embrace this feeling and never let it go.

Chenle decided to walk Jisung halfway home, after much debate since Chenle lived a little in the opposite direction.

Under the dying sun, they walked along the sidewalk, where houses and stores were closing, and the city was preparing for nighttime.

"I feel bad for the moon." Chenle suddenly stated, his shoulders still holding that light bounce as he walked.

Jisung almost stopped walking completely, looking over at the boy at his odd statement.

"How come?" Jisung asked once the boy next to him paused his words.

Chenle sighed.

"Everybody loves the daytime. That's when people are awake, that's when people are the happiest, that's when the sun is out to make light for everybody. It's warm, it's joyful, and all that bullshit. But... as soon as the sun sets and the moon takes its place, everybody goes inside. Parties end, people frown and fear what comes with the moon and her darkness. And she must get so lonely, sitting up there with her stars. Because no one is there to comfort her, everybody just... sleeps and hides away. Not to mention the stars are one of the most beautiful spectacular things you can see from this planet, and no one seems to actually give a fuck about them."

Jisung felt his heart skip a beat or two, glancing over at the boy who now turned around, walking backward to face Jisung as he continued his novel.

"And that's why I do it, hollow boy! That's why I go out at night, and sleep during the day. To comfort the moon and keep her company. And... I know I'm not alone, either. It's sort of a mutual understanding relationship, thing. That was till you came along, and we talked and talked, and you told me some of your stories and I told you some of mine. That's when I really, really knew I wasn't alone. And y'know,"

The smile that appeared on Chenle's lips after his words wasn't as big as it normally was, but it had an entirely different feeling.

"I'm happy about that."

Jisung's face softened, and his feet and legs almost stopped functioning completely as both boys came to a halt. No words tugged at his lips, because he simply could not think of anything to say. But he knew what he wanted to say. What he needed to say.

"Well, thanks for listening, but my house is up this way. I had fun with today. I'll see you tonight, okay?"

Jisung snapped out of his headspace, seeing Chenle take a step down the opposite way. Words came quickly. Not the smartest ones, but they came.

"Y-Yeah. Yes. Yep."

Chenle just laughed with the shake of his head.

"See you soon, hollow boy."

"Till then, dolphin."

And, just like that Chenle gave a wave before beginning to skip up the opposite street. Jisung watched him go, unable to move from his spot.

He felt like he should do something, anything. But it had to be quick. So, with his mouth working faster than his brain, he yelled out,

"Dolphin!"

The green-headed kid turned around at that, stopping his skipping completely.

Jisung didn't think twice before holding up his arm, holding out a finger heart to Chenle who made a little noise in the distance, making Jisung smile before he saw the boy was returning the heart.

And that was that.

Jisung walked the rest of the way home, that damn smile never once leaving his lips as he entered his home and drifted to sleep.


	7. [seven.]

That night when he met Chenle again, it was a bit of a blur. The two had talked about anything and everything, ranging from Chenle’s fascination with the night and their mutual loathing for the day to that time Jisung cried himself to sleep in the middle of a fucking class and Jaemin had to be sent to get him out of the bathroom stall he had locked himself in immediately after realizing. It was probably around five in the morning by the time he got back to his apartment. As soon as his back hit the bed, he was asleep. 

And that brings us to now. 

Jisung doesn’t know  _why_ he suddenly felt like the world was imploding in on itself and if he stepped outside he was going to start having a mental fucking breakdown. But he did. And there was no way  _in hell_  he was doing anything today. He didn’t have the energy to try and fit in with the rest of society or care. He was just going to go back to sleep. 

_“Jisung-ah!”_

Or try his best, anyway.

A few seconds after the exclamation his best friend burst into his room, dramatically walking over to the bed to attempt to rip off the covers. 

A whimper was all he got in response.

”Jeno and I are going to meet a friend of mine, he’s been asking about you two recently and I said I’d introduce you. C’mon, get up so you can introduce yourself. I’m sure you’ll like him.” The older demanded, once again tugging at the bed sheets. He frowned when they didn’t budge again.

”Don’t have energy.”  

"Yes, you do. Get up."

"My ass isn't moving."

"It will be soon."

"Bet."

Jisung pressed his face further into the pillow stubbornly, his body completely limp and motionless, as he promised.

"Park Jisung."

The boy had no response to his name. He felt numb.

"I can't do today. Please, go."

The words from the slug on the bed sounded so dull, so emotionless. Everything around him seemed too loud, and the last thing he wanted to do was get up and join the chaos. He just wanted to sleep everything away at this point. 

“Are you okay, Ji? Do you want me to get you anything-“ 

“No, please go. Please.” 

The last ‘please’ sounded so forced and so heartbreakingly painful that the pink-haired boy took a short step back from the bed. 

“Okay. Well, you know you can always text me. I can always come by later it you want me to.” 

A quick hand ruffled Jisung’s hair, to which Jisung didn’t react to. Because a few minutes later, he was once again alone.

And nothing mattered anymore. 

Not even a minute later, the boy had forced himself back to sleep, to where he stayed like that, unmoving as he escaped this reality. 

And his eyes never opened, until the night hours came, and all of a sudden, his eyes were cracking opening to his pitch black room, the glowing red numbers on his clock shining 11:57 pm. 

Jisung rolled onto his back, feeling his bones start to wake up. His eyes opened and he gazed at his black ceiling, his face expressionless. Feeling shitty was an understatement. 

He sat up, rubbing his watery eyes, running a quick hand through his orange hair as he moved off his bed, shivering before he slipped on his hoodie without a second thought about it. And his shoes were on in the next second. 

Jisung felt disassociated, completely and utterly numb, like he wasn’t even the one controlling what he did. He was just floating, it felt like. But, that didn’t stop him from traveling out his door, beginning to walk the classic path up the street. 

When he arrived at the expected destination, and he saw the green hair, he didn’t have any reaction or thought. Not even when Chenle waved and ran up to him, looking into Jisung’s eyes, his face falling from an overjoyed smile to a frown within seconds. 

“Hollow boy... you look so hollow.” 

Jisung didn’t respond, Chenle took the younger’s hand, leading him over to the curb under the flickering street light. 

“Now, hollow boy, talk to me.”

Jisung gazed out into the darkness, his eyes falling to the unpaved road below their feet. He was surely aware of Chenle's caring gaze and patient waiting, which he knew was a rarity coming from the normally hyperactive boy.

"I feel nothing, dolphin. Absolutely nothing."

The words came out of him with a bit of a struggle, but when he looked up to see the boy's face, he instantly felt a little relief just by seeing the boy in front of him who was listening.

"I woke up. And I just... woke up. I felt completely numb. Completely and utterly overwhelmingly numb. And, for once, I don't even know why."

A few seconds of silence passed, and once Jisung had stopped talking completely the other boy made sure to check Jisung was actually finished before speaking.

"Can anything make you feel again?"

It was definitely not the response Jisung had expected. He had expected a hyper joke or at least some sort of awkward half-assed response, definitely not the patient attentive response he got.

And in all honesty, he didn't really know how to answer. 

"I... I don't know." He mumbled, looking down at the street again.

Chenle hummed, turning towards the boy with a curious look. And, before Jisung could look back up at him, the smaller boy gently took his hand, holding it between his own. The other's skin was so warm, so soft, compared to his own which was cold.

"Can you feel this...?"

Jisung, now taken back, finally made eye contact with the boy who was staring at him with a serious look. It was such a strange thing to do, but somehow, it hit him hard. So, he sat there speechless like a mute, his hand still in Chenle's.

"Well? Can you?"

Jisung snapped out of it before softly shaking his head. 

"Yeah." He replied.

And Chenle gave him that smile.

He would've liked to say it was rather sudden, but it was more of a gradually growing emotion throughout the rest of the night. When Chenle took his hand, simplified everything to that little touch, Jisung felt a little burst of gratitude. When Chenle smiled at him after his response, he felt a little satisfied. 

As the night went on, different little things would make Jisung feel the smallest bit more. It went pretty normally, after the first conversation it went quickly back to Chenle rambling about anything and everything and Jisung occasionally chiming in with remarks, just less than usual. 

Soon Jisung noticed that throughout the other's ramblings he would occasionally glance over to check in that the other was listening and still focused. It was endearingly sweet, and Jisung started to feel even more thankful. 

In other words, it was fucking adorable. But he would absolutely  _never_ say that to the other's face. 

It was probably in the middle of a random conversation they were having about butterflies when Jisung turned to the other and interrupted him.

"Thank you, by the way."

Chenle blinked at the other, a bit of surprise crossing his facial features after hearing the unusual words from the younger. 

"For what? I'm doing what I've done every night," he responded. Jisung smiled at him, demonstrating the full impact of Chenle's presence tonight. 

"Well, I can confidently say that I'm happy right now. And that's more than I could earlier."

At that, the older flashed a small, sincere smile.

"That's the most you can really do. People can't always solve others problems, and I don't even know the root of yours, so the most I'll do is make you smile. I'll always be here if you want to talk to me, or if you need a distraction, or if you need a reminder of what is there in front of you," Chenle said, each word dripping with sincerity. 

Jisung could feel his eyes getting watery, could feel a smile forming on his face. He was slightly choked up, so he just nodded and flashed a smaller version of the smile threatening to break out his lips. Chenle nodded before putting his hand on the other's shoulder.

"This is where I'm heading out for the night. Have a good night, happy boy."

With that, the two boys head off into different directions, a growing sense of happiness taking root in the younger’s gut.

Jisung fell asleep the happiest he's been in a very long time.


	8. [eight.]

 

Three days had passed since the night where Jisung started to fully realize the social impact Chenle had on him. In those three days they had gone back to their default routine in walking around the same route and chatting about their days and lives. Jisung was content with this. It was nice to get back to this routine.

So what the fuck was Chenle doing tonight?

He voiced as much, receiving a bright smile in response. 

“We’ve been doing the same thing for a while now. I figured we could use a change in routine!”

The bubbly boy was walking in the complete opposite direction of their usual route, bouncing as he skipped ahead then waved for Jisung to follow.

Reluctantly, Jisung approached with a scowl on his face. 

“You know I was fine just doing our normal thing,” he muttered when he caught up.

Chenle quirked his head to the side, imitating a confused puppy. 

“But our normal thing is talking about everything and walking. Aren’t we still doing that?”

Jisung  _ really  _ wanted to have some snarky comment in response. He would’ve loved to act all annoyed and come back, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He told himself it was because he was too tired to care, and  _ not _ because Chenle was giving a look equivalent to that of an innocent looking kicked puppy. 

Instead, he ran ahead to force the other who was now grinning with a glint in his eyes to catch up

"What?" He questioned.

Said boy hummed in response and turned away as he started to approach at a more reasonable pace. 

"Nothing," was his eventual response.

"So, what did you do today?"

Jisung smiled at the usual question, feeling appreciation that their nights were as easy as they were. Every time he went out with Chenle it was like breathing fresh air. It was easy talking to Chenle. He never had to search for the right thing to say, the other just inadvertently knew what he meant. The older took the younger simply as he was, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

They got back into their usual routine, chatting about their days. Jisung told the other about Jaemin's mental breakdown when his favorite song came on the radio, down to the details of Jaemin's insane dancing that even he didn't know he remembered. Chenle told him about Ten getting fed up with these two friends of his for not dating yet. It was amusing to imagine the older screaming in Chinese at two alarmed and terrified bystanders, friends or not. 

They talked some more and then fell into a comforting silence. It wasn't awkward, and neither felt the need to fill the gaps in the conversation until they had something worthwhile to say. Eventually, it was Jisung who broke it, remembering a sentence that Jeno had said recently that he wanted to consult with Chenle about.

"So, he was trying to act all wise and Aristotle-like. And he goes, 'I'd rather regret the things I did than the things I didn't.' Which, I know is already a thing and not even remotely close to original but it got me thinking, is that always true? Cause like, what if you took a chance at something and it ended absolutely terrible? Like, say you tried giving a friend a new coffee you made or something, and they're allergic to an ingredient in it and end up dying?"

The younger cut himself off as he heard a hardly concealed snicker from the other. He looked over to see Chenle looking at him with evident amusement dancing in his irises, and he huffed as he turned away. The tips of his ears were inexplicably burning.

"I'm not explaining this right, just forget it," he muttered after a bit too much silence for his liking.

"No, I get what you're saying. But at the same time, I feel like you're reaching for extremes. Like, that whole coffee situation seems really far fetched, ya know? I actually I agree with that statement, so I can't really agree with what you're saying," came the eventual response. 

"Why do you agree with it?"

"Well, for one it's a great way to get me out of my comfort zone," the older laughed a bit here, "But it also just makes sense to me. If you want to go to extremes like your example, say there's someone nearby choking and nobody seems to notice. You know CPR, but you've never done it on a live person before. Would you rather try and help and possibly save them, or watch them die?"

"You could get someone around them."

"What if there's no one around them?"

Jisung was silenced at this, not finding a valid argument.

"Either way, I don't think that's the point of the saying. The saying isn't used for extreme situations like that, it's a saying used for everyday situations like when you're feeling nervous or anxious about a smaller situation that seems bigger than it actually is. Like, for example, you see a slightly familiar looking kid at the end of a dead end street. You might not be the most social person, but he's just sitting alone and you recognize him. Would you rather walk away and leave him alone, or start to approach and see if it leads you to an amazing friendship?"

The older was looking at him again, mischief and something else twinkling in his eyes as he awaited a response. Jisung could feel his ears burn inexplicably brighter. 

"Well, I suppose we both know the answer to that one," was the eventual response he settled for. He was rewarded with one of Chenle's wide, bright grins. He leaned over, with that same shine of mischief and  _ something  _ in his eyes and bumped the younger's shoulder. 

"Thanks," he said, and  _ oh, _ that's what it was. Suddenly, Jisung felt that same swelling of gratitude that he spotted in the other's eyes, and he couldn't fathom why the other was grateful to  _ him, _ when he lived and got out of bed in excitement again to see Chenle. It was an absurd twist, but he couldn't bring himself to point it out when the other was now looking at him with a smaller, dimmed down version of his typical smile.

It was a soft, delicate thing, Jisung thought. If he could describe it, maybe it would be soft, powdery chalk-like pink that Jisung could reach over and brush off if he wanted to. It reminded him of frostbitten cheeks and hot chocolate in front of fireplaces. It reminded him of campfires on a beach at night, confessing of secrets, and soft strumming guitar. 

This smile on Chenle reminded Jisung of all things delicate, and suddenly he felt like maybe  _ this, _ this whatever nightly thing they had was just as delicate. He was reminded to treasure it as such, and maybe  _ that's  _ why Chenle was grateful, maybe he treasured it like Jisung should. 

On another note, Jisung wasn't positive why he was suddenly waxing poetry but he'd be  _ damned  _ if that wouldn't have made an amazing song. 

"We're here!" 

He was brought out of his stupor when the older energetically announced they're arrival at wherever he was bringing them. Jisung looked around and found they were at a forest, right on the border of the city. 

"Why exactly are we escaping the city?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow at the other who was now running after a leaf that was blowing with the breeze. He let out a little exclamation when he caught it, and Jisung couldn't help the small smile that flit across his face. 

Chenle turned around.

"We're not leaving, we're just gonna stay at the edge of the city here. I wanted to show you something."

With that, he gestured for the younger to follow and started to climb one of the many trees. 

"What the fuck? Do you expect me to follow you?"

The other looked down at him and furrowed his brows.

"Are you scared of heights? If you are we can just stay down there, I'm sorry," Chenle rambled, starting to sound more worried.

"No, I'm really fine, I was just confused," he quickly consoled, climbing up after.

When he got to the top he looked over at Chenle, who gestured for him to look up. He did, and was greeted with the sight of the familiar night sky. 

"I just like to be closer to them, I guess," Jisung heard the other mutter. He smiled despite himself.

"You seem to like being close in general," he responded with a snicker. 

"You know, if we weren't precariously balanced on the top of a tree right now I'd push you."

He laughed. 

"I just like the stars, is it too much to ask for you to not mock me for my interests?"

"You like everything."

"I said stop goddamnit."

Jisung laughed again, but he couldn't help but look over the other in question. 

The other was looking at him again, the same soft smile on his lips, and another deep  _ something  _ in his gaze.

"Do you ever meet someone that you just, understand and want to protect?"

The younger blinked in surprise. He didn't expect that, but at the same time one glance at the boy next to him was proof enough he had in answer to the question. Maybe not the understanding part, but he knew the other part was true.

He was being really honest with himself tonight.

He nodded in response and watched the older close his eyes and lay his head back.

"It's almost like, you know they're the same as you, you understand that they feel the same way you do, but at the same time they feel so purely human that they're almost not. Like, a different form of a human, you know? And the world just seems so cruel to them because of that."

Jisung blinked again at the other, wondering where the sudden almost pessimism came from. Before he could question it he was cut off by the others sigh. 

"Never mind that, I was just rambling again."

They fell back into a comfortable silence, except now there were a million things running through his mind. 

Finally, he voiced one of them out loud.

"Chenle, are you religious?" 

His response was a confused blink, and a questioning look.

"Well, it's just what you were just describing seems like a stereotypical angel, ya know? So, do you believe in, like, a God?" Jisung clarified. 

"I think we turn into flowers when we die, I've mentioned that before."

"Ok, but what about a God? Like, someone who looks down and watches us?"

This got him thinking before he turned his gaze up to the sky.  
  


"Well, I'd like to think there is. That would be nice, but I feel like if there is a God he can't hear us. Or he's turning away in shame. Honestly, both would be valid."

Again, these are not the responses Jisung expected. But it was okay, because he was getting a look at the person Chenle was inside. He was seeing some of the things the other kept in his mind, and it was fascinating. 

"So, if humans became flowers when we die, do you think flowers can become humans when they die?"

There was a brief moment of hesitation before a surprised and almost understanding look crossed the older's face.

"Yeah, I think that could be true," he paused briefly before his eyes slid over to look at Jisung, "I think that would explain some things." 

They lapsed into silence once again before Jisung broke it when he mentioned how he once wanted to learn astronomy. This got Chenle's eyes to light up, as he looked over at the younger with playfulness in them.

"Do you know any constellations?"

"No, I said I wanted to learn not that I did."

"Let's make our own!"

Jisung blinked in confusion, causing a giggle to bubble up from the other.

"Here, I'll go first. See those five stars there? That's Magnus Jason Poseidon the third."

Jisung cackled, before blinking back more laughter and taking his turn.

They did this for the rest of the night, and when Jisung fell asleep later he dreamed of a stick figure named Magnus Jason Poseidon the Third.


	9. [nine.]

"His name is Renjun."

Jisung was barely awake, and the sun had barely hit his retinas, and this asshole, Na Jaemin, and his puppy-like boyfriend were standing over his bed rambling about plans for today. The plans being, they were going to head out of the house to meet one of Jeno's old friends from school. Jisung was already cringing at all the fourth-wheeling he'd have to do.

"Nah, I don't wanna." Said the teenager plainly.

And he really didn't want to, because he had spent this whole past week out with Chenle, staying up past sunrise. He needed the sleep desperately, and not in a depressing way.

"Come on, Ji. Please?"

"Hyung, I really don't feel like it today."

"You can invite Chenle, how about that."

Jisung, in the next literal breath of air, was out of his bed and walking over to his dresser, running a now-awake hand through his messy orange hair to somewhat tame it. Jaemin shot a look at his boyfriend, raising his eyebrows.

"You make a convincing argument." Said the youngest simply, changing his shirt right then and there.

Jisung suddenly stopped, his eyes going wide as he turned back around, a pained expression coming over his features as he huffed in frustration. How could he be this dumb?

"I don't- I can't contact him directly. I don't have his number."

Jaemin's mouth fell open in disbelief.

"You're fucking kidding, right? You've been seeing this boy for how many weeks now and you can't even contact him-"

"I don't even know if he has a phone!"

"There has to be a way you can get to him," Jeno said, looking Jisung right in the eyes as if he knew.

Jeno had that kind of effect on people, and somehow, it seemed to always work. The thought came to Jisung almost instantly.

"The store. The convenience store. We can go there, I'll talk to Johnny and Ten."

"Who's Johnny and Ten?”

"They work there. They're a nice couple. Chenle is good friends with them." Jisung explained briefly, grabbing a pair of jeans and going into the bathroom to change.

"What exactly have you been doing, Park Jisung?"

The teen smiled to himself behind the bathroom door, and it didn't fade as he opened his mouth to respond.

"Stuff, hyung."

Ten minutes later, the three boys were heading out of Jisung’s apartment and up the block. Jisung didn't squint as hard at the fresh sunlight that poured down, for he was getting a little bit used to it.

"Oi, brat! Slow down!"

Jisung was walking ahead of the couple, without really knowing he was walking as fast as he was. The only thing, well person, on his mind, was the annoyingly cute little human with green hair.

"Hey, Jisung." Johnny greeted the teen as soon as he stepped foot in the store, the little bell announcing his entrance.

The bell sounded again a second later, the bodies of the couple entering shortly after Jisung.

"Hey, hyung." 

He turned awkwardly towards Jaemin and Jeno. Should he introduce them? Probably.

"Jaemin-hyung, Jeno-hyung, this is Johnny-hyung. Hyung, this is my best friend and his boyfriend, Jeno." Jisung explained, hopefully not too weirdly as his eyes wandered the store in search of some green hair.

"Hi! It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too!"

"I didn't know Jisung... knew anybody else!"

"Yeah, well, us too."

"Hey hyung, where's Chenle?" Jisung blurted, his eyes moving from the aisles to Johnny who was about to speak when he heard the voice he was looking for.

"What's all the commotion? There's never this many people here at one time- OH MY GOSH HOLLOW BOY! AND FRIENDS!"

Chenle full on bolted down the aisle from the door in the back of the store, pouncing on Jisung in a hug, silence falling over Jaemin and Jeno. Jisung tried his best to hide his happiness, wrapping one subtle arm around the boy that was clinging to his side to greet him.

"It's so nice to see you! What are you doing here? And who's this? Wait, I know! This must be Jaemin and his boyfriend Jeno. It's nice to finally meet you! I'm Chenle."

The small Chinese boy bounced on his heels, grinning as Jisung glanced at Jaemin. He was smiling.

"Hi, Chenle! I'm Jaemin. This is Jeno. It's really nice to have finally met you."

Jaemin looked back at the youngest, that teasing glint in his eyes.

"We've heard so much about you from Jisung."

Chenle looked up at Jisung with the brightest most possible smile.

"Awe! You told them about me? How cute." Chenle teased, making Jisung flush over slightly and nudge him.

"You're a shit."

"You love me. Anyways! Why are you here? I hope you're not leaving anytime soon. I mean unless you're busy, but I would like you to stay. I've literally been doing nothing all day except for talking with Ten and distracting him from work and I've been so, so fucking bored."

"Language, kid," Johnny warned.

Jisung let the boy finish, smiling slightly as he looked down at him.

"We were going to head out, actually. We're going to meet up with one of Jeno's old friends." Jisung explained, watching Chenle smile.

"That sounds so fun!"

"Yeah, do you... wanna come along? I could use the company with these idiots." Jisung joked, earning a slap on the head from Jaemin.

Jisung has never seen Chenle's face so quickly light up before. He was scared the boy would implode or something.

"I would love to!" Chenle said, completely overjoyed as he took Jisung's hand.

These subtle actions, little touches and nudges, and hugs made Jisung's heart skip at least two beats at a time, and he really didn't want to know why. It felt so natural yet so unnatural at the same time. What was this kid doing to him?

"Hyung, can I go with them? Please?" Chenle practically begged the boy behind the counter, letting go of Jisung's hand to walk up to the man.

Johnny smiled and nodded, locking eyes with Jisung for a second and giving him a trusting look.

"Yeah, sure. Just be safe, alright? Know your surroundings. Why don't you go tell Ten." Johnny said in reply, ruffling the boy's hair.

Chenle bounced on his heels with a face absolutely no one could say no to, and Jisung watched him skip towards the back of the store with a call:

"I'll just be a second!"

Jisung bit back another smile, turning towards his two friends who were staring at him with that look. Everybody knows the look. Jaemin got close to him for a second, that dumb smirk on his lips.

"Need I say it? Whipped, is what you are for that boy."

Jisung gave him a shove, glaring daggers at his best friend who just rolled his eyes knowingly as a certain green-head padded back down the aisle from the back.

"Ten-hyung said it was okay!"

Jisung smiled.

"Alright, well then we should get going before Renjun literally has my head." Jeno chuckled, taking his boyfriend's hand.

A minute later after saying goodbye to Johnny, the four boys were out the door, Chenle falling in step beside Jisung as the couple led the way down the sidewalk.

"It's so nice out today! Thank you for inviting me, it was very kind of you. I needed to get out, otherwise, I would have been inside all day. I probably would have fallen asleep in one of the boxes in the back like I do a lot."

"You're always welcome, Chenle. Come hang out more, yeah? You're good for Jisung."

Jisung just rolled his eyes heavily as they walked, Chenle now with that smile on his face once again. Everybody in the world and their mother knew Jaemin was right, though. And that may have pissed Jisung off on the outside, but on the inside, he felt like a marshmallow. Gross.

"What's with the scowl hollow boy? Why are you scowling? Are you paying attention? HELLO?"

His thoughts were once again interrupted by the asthmatic cabbage. Jisung blinked twice, looking over at the small boy who was now pouting. And there was something about that pout that gave Jisung the overwhelmingly strong urge to scoop up this kid and hug him till the end of time.

"They're doing that whole affection thing. Let's do it too." Chenle said bluntly, gesturing to Jaemin and Jeno holding hands in front of them.

It took a second for the words to process in Jisung's slow brain, but once they did, he felt a little weak in the, well, everywhere. But, that didn't stop his mind from coming up with ideas.

"Yo, get on my back."

Chenle's face lit up, and in the next second, they were halted on the sidewalk. Chenle's small hands were in Jisung's broad shoulders, while the younger was in an awkward crouch.

"Okay, jump on the count of-"

"WOO!"

And Chenle, of course, jumped. Not on three. His legs wrapped around the Jisung's waist, laughing loudly the entire time like giving the younger aneurysms was some fun game.

"AISH! CHENLE!"

Though Jisung didn't hesitate to place his hands under Chenle's knees, holding the boy's legs around his waist while the smaller remained on his back, arms wrapped loosely around Jisung's neck. The couple in front of them were now looking back at the two youngest, their judgemental gazes piercing through their skin. 

"Cute!" Jaemin exclaimed simply, turning back around.

Jisung glared holes into the back of his head, the voice of the smaller on his back floating to his ears. With panicked words in a worried tone, though.

"Am I heavy? Do you want me to get down? Am I hurting you?"  

Jisung raised an eyebrow.

"What? No, Chenle you weigh like nothing. You're fine."

He heard a soft sigh escape the boy's lips, and he turned his head to see him frowning. He had a look of sad confusion on his face, but before he could question it the other blinked before breaking into a grin.

"ONWARDS MY STEED!”

Jisung flinched from the sudden scream directed straight into his ear. This was also accompanied by a kick on both sides of his body, and he scowled back at the boy. Before he could reprimand the other however, he thought back to a few seconds earlier when the other had that look. He sighed before thinking,  _ fuck it. _ Maybe the boy would appreciate it. 

And with that, Jisung took off. 

He could hear the couple behind him shouting at him to slow down, but even louder than them was the high happy laugh of the boy on his back. 

_ Worth it. _

Soon enough Jisung was slowing down, breathing heavily from the workout he’d just gotten. 

Chenle bent down to be face level with the boy who was now leaning on his knees, panting in exertion. He got no response because  _ god damn  _ running with another human who’s your age on your back is really exhausting. 

The other two caught up to them by then, also breathing heavily from trying to keep up.

“Did you even know where you were going?” Jeno asked, seeming much less out of breath than the other two. 

Jisung just shook his head in response. 

“Could a weeping willow run out of carbon dioxide and get out of breath? Actually wait, that’s a really dumb question ignore me I’m being an idiot.”

The green-haired male corrected himself, shaking his head and facepalming at his own stupidity.

“I wouldn’t mind being a weeping willow right now then,” the youngest muttered, finally straightening up.

“I call being the one from Harry Potter that beats the shit out of everyone. The Whomping Willow, right?” Jaemin asked, following suit and straightening up as well.

“Sorry, the Whomping Willow is already taken. I’m sure you could be the Grandma Willow tree from Pocahontas, if you’re going for famous weeping willows here. With the stamina you just proved, it’s perfect.” A new voice cut in, and the group spun around to greet it. 

“Renjun!” Jeno shouted, running closer to envelope his friend in a hug. Jaemin followed after, albeit slower, and gave him a hug as well.

“You know, you could’ve announced your presence like a normal human being instead of roasting the shit out of me from the shadows like a creep.”

The three of them laughed, while the two youngest stayed back and watched with amused grins growing on their faces. 

“ _ Anyways,  _ Renjun this is Jaemin and I’s son and son-in-law.” Jeno cut in, gesturing back to the two. Jisung scowled and walked closer as well.

“Hi, I’m these two freaks’  _ friend,  _ Jisung.” He clarified, before reaching out to shake the newcomer’s hand. They pulled apart and Jisung gestured loosely behind him.

“And this is my, once again,  _ friend,  _ -”

“Chenle?”

Renjun furrowed his eyebrows, narrowing his eyes at the shortest. Said boy blinked a few times in response, before comprehension dawned on his facial features.

“Oh my god, Renjun?”

“Do you two know each other?” Jaemin cut in.

“Yeah he was in my school.” Renjun offered, finally breaking his gaze from Chenle’s.

“I didn’t recognize him,” Jeno muttered.

“Yeah he was from my Chinese school,” Renjun replied. He turned to look at Jeno again.

“We were just never in the same class because of his-” 

Renjun cut himself off, glancing back at Chenle to see his body language now tense, and his smile a little more tense. 

“We were just never in the same class.” He finished with a slight shrug. 

Jisung moved his gaze from the new boy back to Chenle, still tense before a wide smile split his face as if nothing happened. 

“Well, that’s nice! What are the odds, huh.” Jaemin chuckled. 

Chenle nodded, bouncing on his heels and exclaiming “Let’s go!” before sprinting away.

“Chenle! Wait!” Jeno shouted catching up to the boy. 

“It’s this way,” Jaemin shouted, pointing in the opposite direction. 

With that they all walked to the apartment with Jisung laughing at the others’ antics along the way. 

“We’re here,” Jeno announced, leading the way to his and Jaemin’s shared apartment. 

Jisung took a moment to look at the building, feeling guilt settle in his stomach as he comprehended just how unfamiliar this building seemed after he’d been away for so long. He felt himself thinking deeper, sinking into his thoughts as they threatened to overwhelm him and a numbness started to spread...  _ Had he really spent that long avoiding them? _

He felt a small hand wrap around his all of a sudden. He looked over and saw kind eyes already watching him, a certainty being conveyed behind them and that small smile that always made Jisung’s heart feel lighter. Happier.

  
_ You can feel this. _


	10. [ten.]

“Take your seats, gays. Welcome to our humble abode.” Jaemin announced, opening his arms to gesture around the sun-filled little living room. 

Bean bag chairs, a way too broken in couch, and a loveseat were all squished into the small room. Yet, somehow, it was the closest to home Jisung has ever felt. And it was actually quite cute. The cozy room was decorated with Jaemin’s wide assortment of house plants, cute paintings and pictures (some of him and Jeno, some of Jisung), and fairy lights they hadn’t taken down since Christmas lining the ceiling.

“Your apartment is very aesthetic.” Chenle spoke up with a small smile, Jisung taking a second to admire how polite Chenle was towards others. 

“Why thank you, Chenle. I’m the only one who cleans around here, anyways.” 

Jeno gasped, making Jisung let out a laugh. He knew the couple argued all the time about this. 

“Excuse me, you lying fuck. You complain all the time about cleaning up that I just end up doing it-“ 

“Renjun! It is so nice to see you!” Jaemin quickly changed the subject, taking the shorter  boy’s hands in his own with a wide grin on his face. 

“Y’all are chaotic as fuck.” Renjun couldn’t help but laugh, shaking his head at the couple. 

“Oh, so you’re stealing _my_ best friend now?” 

“Yeah, babe. Sorry. He’s all mine.” 

Jisung rolled his eyes heavily at the dramatic scene, and quickly noticed Chenle had been holding in his laughter the entire time, a small hand over his mouth. 

_That’s really fucking cute,_ was for some reason Jisung’s first initial thought. But, he’d of course commit murder before he’d say it out loud. 

 

-

 

About fifteen minutes later, everybody was settled into Jaemin and Jeno’s living room. Jisung resided with Chenle on the couch, while Jeno and Renjun took the loveseat and Jaemin sat on a beanbag chair, as he insisted.

Jaemin suddenly kicked his boyfriend in the leg, standing up.

“I’m getting drinks. What do you guys want?” 

Jeno tilted his head at the boy. 

“Was there a reason to kick me?”

“I love you, baby.”

“This relationship is abusive. You hoes mad.” Renjun mumbled.

“The maddest hoe is Jaemin.”

“I AM NOT!”

“Hoes mad.”

“Jisung, shut the fuck up. Renjun, you’re teaching our kid bad things.”  
  
“Jaemin, you are literally yelling and literally proving our point.”

Everyone took a second to laugh at themselves, which then evolved into laughing even more at their own laughs. By the time they calmed down, Jaemin had walked to the other room and opened the fridge.

“Seriously, what do you guys want to drink?”

“Do you think certain humans are in a constant state of being high?”

“Jisung, what the fuck.” Renjun replied, chuckling.

“Should I just get people water?” Jaemin called out.

“I mean, maybe.” Jeno replied to Jisung, actually thinking about it.

“WHAT DO YOU GUYS WANT TO DRINK?”

“Shut up Jaemin!” Renjun called. 

The closing of a fridge door was heard before Jaemin walked in and threw each of them a can of soda. Jisung stole a glance at his smaller accomplice who was sitting beside him on the couch, spotting a sneaky grin on his face. 

“Why’d you get me this? I hate the fizziness of soda.” Chenle muttered behind a stifled grin.

 Jisung laughed as Jaemin shot the younger a disdainful look.

“I trusted you, asshole. Did I or did I not ask for preferences?” Jaemin muttered.

“Oh sorry hyung, I didn’t hear you.” 

The green-haired male couldn’t stifle his grin any longer as he said this, starting to cackle when Jaemin shot him an incredulous look.

“You know what? I thought you were polite and sweet but it turns out you’re just a little shit.”

Jisung saw everybody’s eyes widen at the loud and boisterous laugh that left the dolphin’s body. A smile came to his lips as well as he reached over to give Chenle a high five. 

“See? I knew there was a reason I brought you along.” Jisung grinned.

The other let out a gasp.

“I thought you just enjoyed my company, asshole!” 

It was Jaemin’s turn to laugh now as he turned to Chenle with a knowing eyebrow raised.

“If you thought Jisung was going to be at all nice to you, you are sorely wrong my friend.” Jaemin exposed.

“Well, with how whipped he is for Chenle I still didn’t expect it.” Jeno cut in.

Jisung, in return, flipped him off making Jeno gasp dramatically.

“You’re still a fetus! You can’t be doing that!”

Another laugh came from the dolphin beside Jisung, and this time he couldn’t hide the fond smile that came with it. 

“You know you’re literally only proving Jeno’s point?” Renjun smirked across from him.

He went to scowl back and retort something probably sassy before he was cut off by the boy in question.

“It’s okay Jisung, I love you too.”

The youngest blinked at Chenle in surprise, coming face to face with the happiest grin he’d ever seen his whole life. He couldn’t fight the rising heat that was making its way to his ears, nor the smile that was growing bright and full on his face. 

There were a few moments where he felt like time had stopped, and it was just the two of them smiling at each other, before an abrupt shout ruined the moment.

“Just fuck already!” 

Jaemin cackled at the looks he was given in response, while his boyfriend let out a scandalized gasp.

“Jaemin! They’re minors, you pedophile!”

Chenle let out a loud laugh which was quickly joined by the rest of the group.

Jisung could feel tears collecting in the corners of his eyes from laughing even as his ears burned brightly behind his orange hair. After a little longer, they all calmed down and Jeno asked for music recommendations. 

_“Zico!”_ Jaemin shouted immediately, prompting an eye-roll from his boyfriend.

“You literally suggest that all the damn time-”

“Oh! I love Zico!” He was interrupted by an energetic ball of green. 

Everyone present turned to look at him in surprise.

“You? Chenle? You like Zico?” Renjun asked for clarification. 

“Yeah?”

The younger just looked at the group in confusion, acting like this wasn’t some big revelation that the seemingly happiest, brightest person in their group listened to a hardcore big ass rapper. 

“What’s your favorite song by him?” 

Jaemin’s question came out as hopeful and excited, but also incredibly confused. 

_“Anti!”_ Chenle answered brightly.

The group sat in stunned silence until it was broken by a very soft-spoken Jisung.

“Let’s just put on _EXO_. Do the national anthem.” 

“Love Me Right?” Jeno asked, clearly confused by what song the youngest was talking about.

“No. It’s _Growl_ , you idiot.” Renjun cut in, giving Jeno a little glare before giving a face literally nobody could be mad at.

Jisung erupted into laughter as did Chenle and Renjun, and soon the beginning of the six-year-old bop was ringing through the little speaker in the center of the room. Jisung glanced over to Chenle, seeing the boy dancing in his seat, locking eyes with Jisung and giving him a happy smile. There was something _so_ cute about that.

“Okay, enough. Put on Zico or someone dies.”

“God, Jaemin you’re so fucking annoying. You wanna fight?”

Renjun arose from his seat, clearly challenging Jaemin for a duel when he rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie and stepped towards the boy who was already on his feet. You didn’t even have to direct the words _“do you wanna fight”_ at Na Jaemin to get him to stand up and approach who or whatever spoke them. It was like he was being summoned.

“Let’s go, Huang.” Jaemin smirked, and Jisung rolled his eyes because, well, his best friend was a complete crackhead. 

And just like that, the two boys charged at each other. Jaemin easily put Renjun into a headlock, since the chinese boy was only five-foot seven.

“Na Jaemin I will kill you!” 

“I’d like to see you try, baby.” 

“You’re such an idiot!”

Renjun managed to wiggle his small body out of Jaemin’s arms, in return tackling the boy to the floor and pinning him down. It was very amusing to watch unfold. 

“Enough you two! Are we three years old?” Jeno shouted. 

Chenle was in a fit of laughter, scooting subconsciously closer and closer to a Jisung who was noticing his every little move while continuing to look like he was paying attention to the two gays on the floor. It was a skill, not to kiss his own ass. 

When Jisung focused his wandering attention back to the two on the floor, Jaemin was now on top of the smaller. Oh boy. 

“Jaemin, you absolute dumbass. Get your slimy body off of me!”

“Yeah, Jaemin get off.” Jeno grumbled, rolling his eyes. 

It was only when Chenle’s hand brushed Jisung’s leg did he become hyper-aware of literally every breath Chenle took. He didn’t know why this was happening, but it was and he had to just deal with it. Chenle looked over at him, smiling mischievously. 

“If we wrestled, who would win?” Chenle pondered aloud, which left Jisung with the responsibility to answer the question. 

And he stumbled, like an idiot.

“Uh, me? You. Me? You. Yeah, you. I’d just give up and let you win.”

Chenle erupted into laughter that easily rang louder than the two boys shouting on the floor, Jeno now apart of the mess. 

“That’s probably true. I’d pounce on you and you’d just accept it because you can’t _possibly_ hurt me. Right?” Chenle said, most likely sarcastically but Jisung replied seriously.

“That’s right.”

Chenle just giggled, reaching over for Jisung’s hand before taking it in his own like it was the most normal thing for him to do. His hands were so small compared to Jisung’s, and the younger practically melted when Chenle pressed their hands together to compare sizes.

“Your hands are big. It’s actually cool. You can like, grab a lot of stuff at once and that’s a talent. Ten-hyung’s hands are even smaller than mine! Compared to Johnny he’s an ant! Actually, anyone compared to Johnny is an ant.” 

_Whipped_. Jisung remembered that word that Jaemin called him. And, he was starting to get it now. 

 

-

 

It was a couple of hours later when things in the Na-Lee house started to wind down. The five boys eventually settled down, Jaemin finally got off of Renjun, and everybody squished together on both sofas to watch a movie. 

As sleepy as the environment felt, with the dull glow of the television shining into the otherwise dark room onto the five humans occupying the space, only three of the five were growing tired. Jisung and Chenle sat next to each other, still as close as they were hours before, wide awake. 

The clocks read about 11:30 pm right now, and Jisung looked over at Chenle. He watched the colors of the television shine off of the other’s pale skin, and as those eyes wandered from the TV to Jisung’s. 

“Do you wanna go now?” Jisung mouthed to him.

Chenle gave a little smile.

“Yeah.”

In ten minutes, after they figured out Renjun was asleep, Jisung and Chenle hugged Jaemin and Jeno goodbye with quieted whispers, before they were walking up the sidewalk once again in the darkness illuminated by the streetlights. 

Jisung thought of something that’s been floating in the back of his mind the whole night, and he just needed to say it. 

“What did Renjun mean about you two never being in the same class at school?” 

The question slipped, and he watched as the older just kept walking, showing no signs of evident emotion on the matter.

“I take medication for severe ADHD. Not a big deal.” 

Jisung tried so hard not to let his eyes widen in surprise as he opened his mouth to say something. He was cut off.

_“I don’t want to talk about it, please.”_

The seriousness in Chenle’s voice went right through Jisung and scared him so much that he almost stopped walking. But, he respected Chenle’s words, and said no more about the matter. Even though his mind was swimming with questions and thoughts.

“This is where I have to leave. Say, how about you get some sleep tonight. Those bags aren’t getting any smaller.” 

Chenle said this and smiled, reaching up to trace a quick, soft finger under Jisung’s eye. He didn’t even flinch, he was almost too distracted by the conversation they just had. 

“Come to the store tomorrow. Goodnight, happy boy.” 

Jisung watched Chenle take a step back, though still facing Jisung, just waiting for him to say it back. It took Jisung a second to remember he was supposed to speak. 

“Goodnight, dolphin.”

Jisung could barely get the words out, but they came out. Chenle waved with a small smile, turning down the alley and walking off. Jisung watched him go like he always did, right till he disappeared into the darkness and his cue was to walk away.

And he did, thoughts running through his mind a million miles a minute. 

_Because what the fuck?_


	11. [eleven.]

When Jisung woke up the next day, he had barely gotten any sleep prior. The godforsaken sound that had awoken him was the consistent chiming of his fucking text tone.

Rolling over and groaning, he grabbed his phone and glared at whoever was disrupting his sleep. Squinting at the screen, he realized that the bothersome idiot was, with no surprise, Na Jaemin himself _._ With that, opened his phone to see the long string of text messages his best friend sent him.

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _jisungie !!_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _wake up !!_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _i’m in a FUCKING CRISIS AND YOU’RE FUCKING SLEEPING ??!!_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _THIS COULD COST ME MY DIGNITY !!!_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _sungie i actually don’t know what to do please wake up_

Jisung sighed, taking a second to wake up before gathering the energy to type back.

**_baby chick:_ ** _What the fuck do you want_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _SUNGIEEE !!!!_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _THANK YOU !!!_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _I NEED HELP !!!_

**_baby chick:_ ** _Clearly you do. What’s the problem now?_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _well,, you know how i love jeno a lot right? how he’s my world and i would live and die for him?_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _well maybe perhaps possibly i’ve started to develop what might sort of kind of also be feelings for someone else…_

**_baby chick:_ ** _Na Jaemin you what now_

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _I DIDN’T MEAN TO OKAY??? I DIDN’T HAVE CONTROL AND IT’S NOT LIKE I NO LONGER LOVE JENO HE’S STILL MY EVERYTHING I JUST... LIKE SOMEONE ELSE A LOT TOO_

**_baby chick:_ ** _Well who is it?_

Jisung waited for a bit as he watched the three little dots pop up and disappear from his screen. He rolled his eyes briefly just as the text came in.

**_Nana-mom:_ ** _its renjun…_

Just as Jisung began to process the name that Jaemin had just sent, another text popped up on his screen. It was  _way_ too earlyfor this.

**_Other Parent:_ ** _I’m fucked Jisung I’m royally fucked_

It was Jeno. Jisung stared blankly at the screen, gathering the few brain cells he had this early in the morning before texting back.

**_baby chick:_ ** _What is it hyung?_

**_Other Parent:_ ** _So I don’t want to scare you or anything because I still care for Jaemin more than anything in the world but fucking Huang Renjun was my first crush ever and I thought I got over him but like it’s back and I fucking hate it because I love Jaeminnie and he’s my forever true love plz help_

Jisung continued to stare dully at his screen as this played out, quickly deciding to just  _no._ So, with that he put his phone on mute, rolled over, and closed his eyes, deciding he had enough drama for the day despite not even getting out of bed. It was true that he needed his sleep, like a certain little green-head told him.

When he woke up again however, it was around midnight, as per usual. He glanced at his phone again, ignoring the persistent mass text messages from both Jeno and Jaemin and instead rolled himself out of bed to get dressed and ready.

It was around 12:20 when he was out the door, on his way to meet his partner in crime on their nightly escapades. Soon, he was walking through the doors of Johnny and Ten’s store, skipping giddily to find his dolphin.

_Wait… His dolphin? Since when was Chenle his?_

“Jisungie!” He heard a sudden little shout come from behind the freezers.

“Are you behind the fucking milk again?”

“Yes! Wait, hold on I’m coming!”

Jisung just laughed and rolled his eyes playfully, hearing Chenle’s footsteps patter off. He was just about to turn around to meet the boy, when a certain little somebody jumped on him in a back hug attack.

“I missed you so, so much! Did you know that when people that are usually close together get separated for periods of time they experience actual withdrawal symptoms? Isn’t that crazy? I think that’s what happens to me with you.”

Jisung couldn’t help but chuckle, turning around and just when he wasn’t about to do it, he did it. He could no longer fight the urge and just swooped Chenle up off his feet in a hug, making the shorter boy break into little laughs.

Small hands grabbed onto the back of his shirt, and when he realized Chenle was hugging him back, he quickly put the boy back down on the ground and pretended nothing ever just happened.

“Yeah, I think I understand.” Jisung grinned, unable to stop when he saw the pure happiness and excitement on Chenle’s face.

His pupils were also blown wide with adrenaline, and he was once again bouncing on the balls of his feet as that radiant smile curved up on his lips. The hoodie Chenle wore today was just a little too big for him. The sweater paws were perhaps the cutest Jisung’s ever seen.

“You’re adorable. Are you ready to go?” Chenle asked, rushing to grab Jisung’s hand, already pulling him to the front of the store.

Jisung just scoffed playfully.

“Apparently. You didn’t even give me a chance to answer.”

“Well, you weren’t gonna say no now were you, hollow boy!”

“Be safe kids!”

“We will! Thanks Johnny-hyung.”

Once Chenle pulled Jisung out of the store into the warm night air that quickly filled his lungs and relaxed him second by second, he felt more himself. And he didn’t know if it was just the calming nighttime, or the smaller boy whose hand was still in his own. He’d like to think both. Maybe one a little more than the other, but he’d never say that.

And so they walked their normal route, down three blocks, make a left, a right, turn down the dead-end street, you know the drill. They had just gotten off a topic about why humans say “ _ow”_ even when things don’t hurt them, when Chenle spoke up suddenly.

“Renjun likes Jaemin and Jeno.”

Jisung’s eyes widened quickly as he turned to face the boy, jaw-dropped slightly. Chenle pouted.

“I couldn’t hold it in! I just had to tell you. Renjun and I talking last night and reconnected and he just kinda told me, I’m so sorry if I ruined anything I shouldn’t have said-”

“No no. Lele, it’s so funny that you said that. This morning Jaemin and Jeno were literally blowing up my phone about how they each had a crush on Renjun, it was the strangest thing but, oh my gosh. This is crazy.”

Chenle’s face lit up at the sudden nickname he was given, and grew brighter the more Jisung talked. Soon he was practically in Jisung’s face with how close he got.

“They all like each other! Oh my gosh, this is so cute! Oh my gosh, I have an idea. Wait.”

Jisung nearly gasped when Chenle whipped out his phone. He didn’t even know the boy owned one, first of all, he had the right to be shocked. When Chenle asked for Jaemin and Jeno’s phone numbers, Jisung had no choice but to give them.

“I’ll need yours then too, hollow boy.”  
  
“Why didn’t you tell me you had a phone?”

“I don’t use it very often! Just for emergencies.”

Jisung just shook his head, graciously giving Chenle his number along with the other two. After a minute or so of Chenle working hard at typing, the shorter grinned and showed Jisung his screen. And Jisung just laughed, for real.

Chenle had created a group chat with Jaemin, Jeno, Renjun, and Jisung in it. Along with that, Chenle sent a singular text that read,  _“y’all like each other. i’m with jisung so i don’t really care what happens in this group chat at this point. talk about it, bye <3!”_

“Oh, they’re gonna lose their fucking shit.” Jisung grinned as Chenle laughed and put his phone away.

“It’s funny how this stuff works. Two people are in love, they both fall for another, they keep it a secret and fear what the other might think if they knew, but they eventually all find out that they all like each other and it’s a happy ending. I love seeing life play out so positively like this. It makes me happy.”

Jisung listened to Chenle’s ramble, getting a little lost in it himself and finding himself agreeing with all of it. It really was nice to watch things play out nicely. Unlike other things in his life, where he never really did get the upper hand.

Chenle glanced over at the younger.

“You okay, Jisungie?”

He hadn’t realized his mind was traveling into such a dark place until the other snapped him out of his headspace. Thinking about all these happy things that were happening around Jisung, made him reflect on the events in his life that made up his depressed state, what he was now. With Chenle beside him, however, he began to think about how much Chenle really  _didn’t_  know about his past.

_He needs to open up at some point. Chenle is the only person who really understands him, and Chenle’s already shown he’ll be here no matter what. Jisung trusted this boy, something he thought he’d never feel towards anybody except Jaemin._

Jisung didn’t avert his eyes from the ground right away, but when he did, he locked them with Chenle’s. He  _needed_  to say it.

“Can I tell you something?”

He didn’t realize his voice was shaking till he spoke, and he guessed Chenle noticed it too because there was that little frown on the smaller’s lips that didn’t quite fade out.

“ _Of course_  you can.”

Those soft words were enough to urge Jisung forward before he could possibly have any second thoughts about what he was going to tell the boy.

“I-I just want to tell you why I’m like this. Why I’m so depressed all the time.”

Chenle’s eyes widened in surprise, before his face morphed into one of seriousness. He nodded his head solemnly, and with that, Jisung continued on. The attempt to make his voice a little less shaky didn’t work.

“So, you know how I live alone?”

Chenle nodded again.

“That’s because  _no one wanted me_.”

The younger paused to take a steadying breath when he felt Chenle lay a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“I was born from a one night stand, so I never met my father. My mom wasn’t ready to take care of me either, so when I was two she gave me to my aunt since she knew my aunt already had kids, and knew how to take care of them. My aunt tried to take care of me along with all of her other children, not married with no help. But, the oldest kids in the house knew my story and how I was born. So they looked down on me, and never treated me the same because I really should never have been born.”

His eyes were anywhere but Chenle’s at his point, just barely holding himself together.

“My aunt eventually couldn’t take care of me anymore since I was causing so much trouble trying to stick up for myself. So when I became a freshman in high school, she sent me out of the house with money and gave me an apartment. After that, she married some wealthy guy who brought her tons of money. She still wires me money to this day but I just-”

Jisung broke off, his breathing falling heavy as he crouched down and buried his head in his hands. He felt Chenle crouch down beside him, a small hand rubbing soothing circles on his back.

“I just don’t want to be a  _burden_  anymore.”

With that sentence, he completely broke.

Through it, could feel the older still rubbing soothing circles between his shoulder blades and up across the back of his neck. And he could feel Chenle murmuring soothing words into his ear. He choked back more sobs, wanting desperately to just fall away in the boy’s arms and never wake again.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m pushing all of this on you and you probably were just enjoying your day and I probably just ruined your happiness and I’m sorry I’m such a burden to you and-”

“Jisung, shut up.”

His negative rambling was cut off suddenly by the boy he was spilling his entire heart out to. That, and his head was now being held in two small, gentle hands.

“You are  _not_ a burden. You never were, and you never will be. I’m glad you trusted me enough to tell me this, Ji. You’re right, it’s heavy stuff, but in the least offensive way possible this actually makes me happy. Because it shows me you trust me, Jisung. It shows me that you value my thoughts. And, well that makes me happy.”

Chenle takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and resting his forehead softly against Jisung’s. The younger’s eyes had now opened, staring into Chenle’s closed ones while the tears still rolled down his cheeks.

“Nothing,and I mean  _nothing_ about what you went through is okay. You deserve so much more than that, and if I could go back in time and take it all for you, I would. But neverthink you’re a burden. It really fucking sucks, I know. I get it really hurts, and I get it’s hard to keep trying. But you need to know that I’m always here, okay? And even if you can’t escape the thoughts that you’re a burden, at least know that you’re  _never_ one to me. I’m right here for you, okay? I’ll be your soldier when you can’t fight any longer.”

A small smile broke across Jisung’s lips as the other took a steadying breath, returning the same smile. And from their close distance, Jisung could see a tiny sparkle in Chenle’s dark brown eyes. As dark brown as they were, they reflected the moon’s light in such a beautiful way.

_When did Chenle’s eyes become so fascinating to look at?_

“See? You look even prettier than any flower when you smile, Sungie.”

His smile only grew, pulling Chenle down into a tight hug, letting the older’s head rest on his shoulder comfortably while he rested his own on Chenle’s head. And they sat like that for a while, Jisung feeling calmer than he’s ever felt before while the nighttime air sat silently around them.

After a little bit longer, he felt Chenle reach for his phone, letting out a little giggle. Curiously, Jisung lifted his head to see what the boy was laughing about.

“Look.”

Jisung moved his watery gaze to Chenle’s phone screen, reading the most recent text message back from one Na Jaemin.

**_Jaemin:_ ** _“why tf are u 2 up and together rn?”_

That sparked a laugh out of both boys instantly, knowing damn well none of the other boy’s knew of their nightly routine. Chenle scrolled up a little more, revealing the semi-awkward text exchange that was the three other gays making plans to meet up the next day.

“Well, the plan was a success.” Chenle grinned, making Jisung let out a chuckle.

Jisung watched as Chenle turned off his phone, eyes lingering on Jisung for only a second more before he turned sideways, laying down and resting his head on Jisung’s thighs with a hum of satisfaction as he closed his eyes. Jisung could only watch, a soft smile creeping onto his face.

“We did something good tonight, Sungie.”

Chenle opened his eyes and they immediately locked eyes, leaving Jisung once again wondering how he got lost in them so quickly.

“ _You_ did something good.” The older added, his words soft and reminding.

Once he saw Jisung smile softly again, he closed his eyes again and reached up for the younger’s hands, fitting his smaller ones into them while he smiled that happy, contagious smile.

Jisung took a moment to admire the green-haired boy laying in his lap, eyes caringly scanning over every part of Chenle he could see from this angle. The boy had been nothing but kind and understanding to Jisung since the beginning. He was also one of the most beautiful, kind-spirited people he’d ever met in his whole life. Imagining Chenle struggling with ADHD seemed impossible to him, really. And yet at the same time, Jisung could never stop thinking about it.

But he pushed the thoughts back for now, instead starting to lightly pet Chenle’s soft green hair, his longer fingers running through it, hearing the other let out a soft hum.

“Don’t, I’ll fall asleep…” Chenle murmured, only making Jisung smile.

Whipped. Completely whipped.

They stayed there for a little longer with gentle touches, soft breathing, and wordless conversations, before Chenle suddenly yawned and pushed himself up slightly. He poked lightly at the bags under Jisung’s eyes, smiling in a way that made his nose crinkle. Jisung couldn’t think about saying the word  _cute_  enough times in that moment.

“You still have to go to sleep, Sungie. I still see those bags.”

Jisung sighed, giving a little pout that made Chenle laugh. Though, he knew they had to part eventually, so he stood slowly up once the older did. He really  _didn’t_  want to say goodnight, but he’d see the other soon, he told himself.

“Goodnight, Lele.”

Chenle grinned.

“Goodnight, Sungie.”

That night when Jisung arrived home to his blanket-filled bed, and when he rolled over onto his side to drift off to sleep, he felt  _safe._ The safest he’s felt since he was two years old. 


	12. [twelve.]

_ “Have you had ADHD your whole life?” _

The question came up the next night Jisung and Chenle met at their normal spot, after the two had talked about their days and when it was quiet enough for Jisung to get into his own thoughts. Only then, did he decide he couldn’t hold it back any longer.

Picturing such a bright, happy, adorable boy like Chenle struggling with something so serious hit Jisung like a truck, and no matter how many times he’s tried to just push the thoughts away and resume life normally, because he respected that Chenle didn’t want to speak about it, he just couldn’t shake it from his head.

The stare that Chenle gave the younger as the words left his lips was piercing. It made his stomach twist with guilt. 

“Can we please not talk about it? _ Please _ ?” 

Chenle emphasized the last word quite clearly, and Jisung cast his eyes down at the uncomfortableness in the older’s tone. He didn’t like this, not one bit. And he just didn’t understand; Chenle every single night told Jisung every single detail about his day, how he was feeling, what he saw, and what he did. Yet, even after the previous night of Jisung’s breakdown, Chenle wouldn’t talk to him about this?

“Jisung?”

His name brought him out of his own thoughts, and soon he was staring into Chenle’s dark brown eyes.

“Did you even hear what I just said?”

Wide-eyed, Jisung tried to think.

“Uh-”

“Whatever. We seem to be off track today. Why don’t you go home and sleep.”

Jisung felt his heart pound hard in his chest, confusion and some hurt surfacing on his face when Chenle stood up and faced him. Jisung arose as well.

“Goodnight Jisung.”

The younger held back from touching Chenle, or doing absolutely anything at all as he swallowed nervously. No nickname. He didn’t like this.

“Goodnight Chenle.”

The green-haired boy turned and left. Jisung watched him go before doing the same.

-

The next night it was a full moon, Chenle’s favorite night time sky. The boy was just as happy as he expected when Jisung showed up, bouncing on his feet, eyes shining as he stared up at the star-ridden sky and white full moon.

“Sungie, it’s so pretty!”

Jisung wanted to smile, and he did, because the things that Chenle found beautiful were precious, and watching him get excited over them filled Jisung with a caring warmth, but last night still darkly loomed over him.

About an hour later, when the comfortable silence filled the gaps between them, Jisung couldn’t help it. His mind was stuck once again on Chenle, caring for him, wondering why the older wouldn’t talk to him about this after everything.

“ _ Why _ won’t you tell me?”

Jisung looked Chenle right in the eyes this time, hurt swimming in them, hoping the other would see that. The green-haired boy’s smile faded into another serious look that Jisung hated.

“Will you  _ fucking _ let it go?”

Jisung blinked in surprise at Chenle’s words, and his harsh tone.

“Chenle, I just-”

“I can’t.”

The older boy tore his gaze away from Jisung’s, standing up once again to which Jisung quickly followed.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”

“Goodnight, Jisung.”

Just as Chenle turned to walk away, Jisung reached out and gently took ahold of Chenle’s arm, to which the older shook off in a heartbeat.

“I said, goodnight, Jisung.”

The younger took a steadying breath, hurt settling in his chest.

“Goodnight, Chenle.”

-

The next full week, which felt like a full year to Jisung, went on exactly like this. The night would start off light-hearted, they talked about how their days went and whatever conversations carried with it, a silence followed it, and Jisung asked the same questions.

Thus it was tense between them every night, and it clearly hurt both boys that things were like this. But that didn’t mean Jisung was going to back down, because despite being depressed, he was still a stubborn son of a bitch, especially when it came to Chenle. 

So by the end of the week, when it was clear Jisung was not going to let this go, Chenle seemed to have gotten more than tired of it.

“You want to know so badly?”

Jisung blinked, because this was a different response than he has heard over the past nights. He’d never heard Chenle be so mean to, well, absolutely anything. So you could say the younger was nervous. 

“Chenle I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. I just care about you and-”

“My rich millionaire parents left me on my aunt’s porch with a bundle of money a week after I was born. She was a fucked up women who was physically and mentally abusive. You know, I might not even have fucking ADHD because she told me I had it despite having no experience in any doctors. I was a fucking charity case who was treated like shit and I didn’t have a fucking life of my own, while she got attention and pity from everyone she wanted through me.”

Chenle stood up, starting to aggressively pace across the pavement in front of Jisung. He was seething, and tears were starting to build in the corners of his eyes.

“I was slower than the rest of the class when I finally got to school because I wasn’t allowed to study. I remember the first time I saw these kids smiling I legitimately didn’t know what they were doing. I hadn’t seen a smile or a hug ever in my life. I was an outcast because I was supposedly the fucking ‘attention-seeking delinquent’ to the other students.”

He took a shaky breath, and Jisung couldn’t take his eyes off of him.

“When I was fifteen, I ran away because everything became too much. I took some money and rode the train into the city. I was homeless my first week here because I didn’t have enough money for an apartment. I went into Johnny-hyung and Ten-hyung’s store to get some food with the last of my money. Even that wasn’t enough for a full sandwich, but Ten-hyung saw how I looked and gave it to me for free. He said I could come back anytime I needed something.”

Chenle stopped pacing, turning to look Jisung in the eye. The younger could feel his heart breaking as he watched the tears start rolling down the other’s face. 

“Did you know I had never had anyone do that before? No one had ever been that kind to me before and I didn’t know how to take it. Ten-hyung went through therapy so he noticed how fucked I was and that’s why he offered. Eventually I took him up on the opportunity even though there was  _ no way in hell  _ I deserved it and they taught me basically everything I know now-”

The older broke off and turned away, breathing heavily. Jisung watched in concern, wanting to reach out and pull him close but understanding that it might not be the right thing to do right now.

“I don’t fully understand…” he murmured. 

The other sighed turning around again with a blank, cold look.

“My aunt basically forced me to have ADHD so she could benefit from it. It’s called Munchausen syndrome by Proxy. And then she treated me like shit when no one else was around. I moved away and here I stand like this. A complete broken mess.”

_ Holy shit. _

Before Jisung could fully process the other’s words Chenle had started shaking. His eyes widened as he rushed forward, no longer caring about keeping his distance because,  _ holy fuck he’s crying really hard.  _

Jisung pulled the crying boy into his arms and supported him as his legs gave out beneath him. Lowering them both to the curb, Jisung couldn’t help but be a little speechless. Never did he think he would see anyone, much less Chenle, cry this aggressively to the point where the boy’s whole boy was racked with sobs.

“Hey, I’m sorry. Breathe, it’s okay. I’m here and you’re safe now.”

He remembered how Chenle comforted him when he broke down and started to rub slow circles on the other’s back. But nothing seemed to calm him down. 

It took a while, but eventually Chenle’s breathing leveled out to almost normal. Jisung’s fingers were gently carding through the boy’s hair while the older sat basically in his lap, slumped against Jisung’s shoulder. He would stay here all night with Chenle if that’s what it took to make the boy feel better.

“I’m sorry, this really throws things off. You should get to sleep.” Chenle mustered up a weak smile. 

Jisung furrowed his brows, concern shining through his small eyes. 

“You have to help yourself, you know that right? This is a serious issue.” 

Jisung was pleading at his point.

He watched the other’s eyes darken, and before he could try to explain himself he was met with a sentence he never thought he would hear come from Chenle’s mouth. 

_ “Fuck off.” _

Chenle pushed lightly on Jisung’s chest, standing up and shaking Jisung’s grip off of him before wiping his tear-stained cheeks roughly. Jisung watched, his heart breaking as Chenle walked away, the younger not getting up to follow him this time.

-

The next day, Jisung did nothing. He didn’t get out of bed, he didn’t eat, he didn’t even talk to Jaemin. There were too many thoughts swimming through his brain but not enough energy in his body to do anything at all. By the time midnight had rolled around, he had made a decision. 

He wasn’t going tonight. 

Chenle’s problems were obviously much worse than his own, and dealing with Jisung’s insignificant issues was probably not helping. Chenle was too nice of a person to get fed up with Jisung, but Chenle might not have recognized that Jisung was burdening him.

These are all the reasons his mind had supplied to him during the day, but it was still really fucking hard not to go out of simple habit. Not seeing Chenle was like getting off of a drug addiction. Even so, he managed to stay in bed all night. 

And the day after that.

Two nights later, however, as he was mentally preparing himself to try and sleep, he received a text.

**_dolphin:_ ** _ are you coming tonight  _

Jisung spent a good ten minutes trying to fight the urge to whip his depressed ass out of bed and run down to the dead end street to scoop Chenle up in his arms and never let him go. 

After those ten minutes, he lost the battle and he found himself on the floor desperately pulling on his shoes. The route was a habit, so he found himself at their usual meeting place much sooner than he would have liked. But he was nervous, more nervous than before. He stopped short when he saw the boy he was looking for there. 

In that moment, Jisung felt so many emotions at once it was almost overwhelming. He had to take a moment to steady his breathing, his heart beating faster and faster with each passing second.

The Chenle looked up as he got closer, eyes reflecting just as much emotion as Jisung was feeling. _ How? _

Before the younger could say anything, Chenle cut him off.

“Why didn’t you come last night?”

Jisung swallowed, some guilt settling in his stomach before answering. Chenle looked so confused and upset.

“I didn’t want to burden you. You obviously have enough going on as it is.”

Chenle’s eyes seemed to sadden even more.

“Sungie, I told you. You never burden me. Spending time with you is one of the only things I genuinely enjoy. I was just upset yesterday because all of that was thrown off. I should also apologize for being so mean last night.”

At this point they were both staring guiltily at each other, trying to blink back tears. A question lurked at the back of Jisung’s mind, and he hesitated before voicing it.

“Why won’t you help yourself?”

There were a few seconds of silence before Chenle spoke up again. 

“I’m beyond saving.” 

And that sentence is what finally broke them both. Jisung felt the tears that has been gathering in his eyes for the past hour finally spill over his cheeks, the same happened with Chenle.

Jisung reached out to grab Chenle, whatever part of him he could get, and pulled the other close to him. Chenle melted into the embrace seconds after realizing it was all he wanted. When both boys realized their legs were growing weak, they pulled each other down the curb and sat tangled together. 

“You’re not, Lele. You’re never beyond saving.” 

Silence wrapped around them after that, the night not daring to disturb the two boys. And they sat like that for awhile, focused only on each other’s embraces, and the warmth and comfort that came with it.

Jisung looked down once he thought the time was right to move. And there, Chenle’s head was nestled in the crook of his neck, though his eyes were closed and his breathing was calm and slowed. The boy had fallen asleep. On Jisung.

It was such a fragile moment, Jisung was convinced he’d have to stay here in order to not risk waking up the green-haired boy. But when his ass started to get numb from sitting on this damned concrete, he realized it was time for them to head somewhere comfortable. 

Yes, _ them _ .

Not knowing where Chenle lived, not wanting to wake him up, and not having the energy to wake him up, Jisung decided to head back to his own apartment. 

Of course, he carried the lighter boy on his back all the way there, and gently placed Chenle’s sleeping self on his bed when he got there. He went to move over to the couch to sleep, obviously letting Chenle have the bed when he felt a small hand wrap around his wrist. 

He glanced down to see Chenle blinking slowly up at him, half asleep and a pleading look on his face. Jisung swore his heart exploded in that moment. And, without two more thoughts, he climbed into bed beside

And like that, they fell asleep.

 


	13. [thirteen.]

_“Park Jisung, what the actual fuck.”_

Jisung was awoken by the obnoxious sound of a certain Na Jaemin’s voice, because what else is loud and an idiot at this hour in the morning? Jisung groaned, groggily sitting up, looking confusedly up at the older before he was hit with a startling realization.

There was a pair of arms around his waist.

It took him a few seconds to remember the events that took place the night before, and in those few seconds, Jaemin had the time to continue being annoying.

“You have some fucking explaining to do. Right _now_.”

Jisung’s eyes widened as he hurried to explain himself, being careful not to wake up the adorable sleeping fluff ball clinging onto him.

“No what the hell, it’s not what you’re thinking you, colossal dumbass. He fell asleep on me last night and I didn’t know where he lived so I just took him here, calm down.”

“That’s called kidnapping, you fuck.”

Jisung rolled his eyes at his now-smirking friend before he glanced over at Chenle, who was miraculously still asleep through all of this. 

“Listen, I learned some stuff last night and I want to treat Chenle to a day out. So if you would be so kind and NOT be so loud,” Jisung whispered harshly.

Jaemin looked at him with a suddenly concerned expression.

“Is everything okay?”

The youngest looked down at Chenle again, sighing softly.

“It will be.”

 

-

 

An hour later after Jaemin finally left to go meet up with his boyfriend and Renjun, who may or may not be their boyfriend as well, Jisung didn’t know, he was scrolling through Twitter when he felt the male beside him start to stir.

He carefully looked down and was met with the gaze of a sleepy, half-awake dolphin whos hair was a cute mess of green fluff on top of his head.

Never had Jisung ever seen something so _fucking_ adorable. 

He didn’t dare speak a word as he watched the smaller boy slowly sit up and rub his eyes before glancing around Jisung’s room, confusion evident on his sleepy face.

“Where the fuck are we?” 

Jisung laughed at the first words that came out of his mouth, smiling down at him. 

“We’re at my apartment, sleepyhead. You fell asleep on my lap and I don’t know where the fuck you live so I just brought you back here.”

He watched the realization dawn in Chenle’s eyes before the smaller looked up sheepishly at the other, a slightly embarrassed blush crawling across his cheeks.

“Ah, I’m sorry about that…”

Jisung internally panicked before he immediately shook his head.

“It’s nothing to apologize for, Lele. Now, you need to get up because I want to go out with you today.”

Chenle raised an eyebrow and watched as Jisung immediately flushed over, realizing what he had just said. _Fuck._

“I meant... I-I want to take you out for, like, a day to just do whatever you want…”

He looked down, his ears flushing bright red. _That sounded a lot like a date, good going dumbass._

“So, uh, w-what would you want to do?”

Jisung heard an obnoxious laugh before he was being pulled into a big hug that literally squeezed the life out of him. In a good way, though. In the best way.

“You’re so cute, I would love to do that. Do you have any paper?”

Jisung smiled before looking at the smaller in confusion, tilting his head slightly. Chenle flushed over nervously.

“I usually do origami in the morning. Ten mentioned it had some therapeutic purposes and I already loved to do it so I just do it every morning.”

Jisung just chuckled softly with a smile, squeezing the boy in his arms briefly before getting up on a mission to find some paper. When he got back, the older was sitting up on the bed, rubbing his eyes. His eyes lit up as he saw Jisung walk in with a stack of paper. 

“Give me a piece, I wanna make a butterfly!”

Oh my god. Jisung’s head melted as he passed Chenle what he asked for before sitting down next to him on the bed. He watched the smaller lovingly as the other folded intricate patterns into the paper. They sat like that for a while, the smaller engrossed in his work and the taller watching him. 

_It was really nice to see Chenle so genuinely content with something so simple._

“Sungie, look! It’s a butterfly!”

He was jolted out of his soft thoughts when the boy behind him exclaimed his name. Jisung blinked and looked down at what was in the other’s hands, noticing a small paper butterfly resting in the middle of Chenle’s palm.

“Holy shit, did you actually just make that?”

Chenle nodded excitedly and smiled. 

“I might have to walk home quickly if we’re… going out today,” the boy added. 

Jisung frowned.

“What? Why?”

Chenle chuckled.

“Sungie I don’t have any clean clothes-”

“You can just wear mine.”

Jisung cut off the other boy, before starting to blush again. Goddamnit. Chenle smiled shyly, before giggling.

“I don’t have a problem with that.”

A few minutes later, Chenle was making his way to Jisung’s bathroom for a shower and to get changed into the clothing. And Jisung was sitting on his bed like an idiot totally _not_ thinking about Chenle walking out in his clothes that will for sure be oversized, looking adorable. _Definitely_ not. 

Deciding to distract himself from his definitely-not-Chenle-related thoughts, he pulled out his phone and looked up some origami tutorials on Youtube. Finding one with the most views that seemed fitting, he occupied his time waiting for Chenle to come out by horribly folding patterns into a paper, trying to make a rose. 

Honest to god, he had _no_ idea how Chenle did this. 

It seemed like just seconds after he finished his horrible creation of the flower, that Chenle emerged from the bathroom, with wet hair and dressed in Jisung’s clothes. The long-sleeved shirt was slightly too large on him, and he had the smallest sweater paws because of it. Jisung could feel his heart-melting in his chest and his heartbeat quicken.

He was _so_ hopelessly whipped. 

“What were you doing there Sungie?”

He was instantly pulled out of his thoughts when the older sat down next to him, pushing his wet hair back off his forehead and looking over at what Jisung was holding. 

Jisung, flustered, try to explain.

“Uh, I wanted to try it myself, you know, it looked fun…” Jisung rambled.

“Uh, it’s not that good, but like, if you want to have it you can… I made it for you...” Jisung trailed off again, looking down at the paper in his hands.

A smaller hand entered his field of vision and Jisung gently placed his misshapen deformity of a flower in it. It was only when he heard a small sniffle did he actually look up, quicker than god.

Because Chenle was sitting on the bed next to him, looking at the flower, actual tears in his eyes. Jisung blinked, trying not to be alarmed.

“I’m usually not this emotional over such a little thing...” Chenle started before turning to Jisung with a little smile.

“Thank you Jisung. This really made me really, really, happy for some reason.” 

The boy paused briefly to collect himself before he wiped his tears on the back of his hand and hugged the younger tightly. 

“It’s amazing Sungie, I love it.”

Jisung smiled, squeezing the boy in his arms tightly. 

“I’m glad. Now come on, we should get breakfast. Where do you want to go?” 

The older hummed and sat back in thought, still holding the paper in the palm of his hand.

“We should go to that cafe you were telling me about before, if they serve breakfast. I really want eggs,” Chenle replied.

Jisung nodded with a smile and stood up.

“Then come on, let’s get our shit together and get food cause I’m fucking starving,” he chuckled, leading the two to get shoes on then out the door.

Outside it was slightly cloudy, and Jisung could tell was about to rain any second. Shit. He glanced down to his smaller accomplice and noticed the smallest of content smiles on his face as he was gazing at his surroundings like he’s never seen them before. Jisung smiled as well.

“You see this alley we’re walking past right now? One time I saw this homeless man eating a rat down there. It was honestly really weird so I looked up if rats have any protein, and guess what? One 300 gram rat has 648 calories and 63 grams of protein! If I knew when I was starving to death on the streets that rats were that healthy I would’ve never needed to use any money at all to buy food.”

Jisung blinked at the tumble of chaotic of words that had suddenly erupted from Chenle’s mouth. Before he could muster any type of appropriate response to that, a tiny drop of water hit Chenle on the tip of his nose. Jisung held in a chuckle as the other immediately went cross-eyed to try and see the culprit of his now-wet nose. 

Jisung smiled and brought his thumb up, gently brushing away the stray drop. An adorable rosy blush bloomed on Chenle’s face. 

“It’s raining.”

“No shit, dork.”

More droplets started to fall from the sky, but neither of the boys paid it any mind simply continued walking at their own pace to the cozy cafe just two blocks down the road.

Jisung was happily observing his surroundings until he felt a light brush of skin against his fingers. He glanced down and noticed how close their hands were to touching each other, their pinkies barley brushing every couple of seconds. Looking up again, Jisung noticed the rosy blush from before on Chenle’s cheeks had grown a little bit darker. So with that, he grabbed Chenle’s hand, intertwining their fingers swinging them back and forth happily. 

By the time they got to the cafe, they were both thoroughly soaked but grinning from ear to ear, laughing at each other’s stupid puns they made about rain along their walk. 

They were seated and ordered their food, Jisung thoroughly judging the other when he ordered just toast and eggs and getting a slap on the hand and an adorable pout in reply. They ate quickly and paid before Jisung pulled Chenle out of the cafe and back out into the rain. 

“Come on, I want to show you something. There’s this outdoor marketplace a few blocks down from Johnny’s store, and I wanted to take you there. It’s so fun and they have so many-” Jisung’s rambling was cut off by a badly-concealed giggle from the other. 

He looked over at the other who was covering the growing smile on his lips. He looked enamored, and Jisung could feel the blush crawling up to his ears once again. Why did Chenle do this to him?

“Let’s go then, cutie Sungie,” Chenle giggled, and Jisung felt a hand ruffle his hair as he hid his face in his hands. 

“Shut up.”

Jisung took Chenle’s hand again, tugging him down the road where they broke into a jog, laughing and teasing each other the whole time. A few minutes later the marketplace was in sight and Jisung saw Chenle’s face light up in excitement.

“It’s so cute!” Chenle grinned, his eyes shining as he took in the market place, buzzing with life inside the shops. 

Jisung smiled at him fondly. 

“Now let's go, dork.”

Before Jisung could pull himself out of his adoring thoughts, his hand was pulled and he was being dragged over to a small stand of cards inside of the first shop they saw. Chenle bounced around the stand, looking at different kinds of cards before he gets seemingly sucked into the “I Appreciate You” section. Jisung followed behind, reading a card with cats on the front before he was beckoned. 

“Sungie! Come here!” 

The younger walked over to where he was called, blinking when he was presented with a card being shoved in his face. He chuckled, pulling it back a little so he could read it. The words “I adore you” were printed across the front. Jisung felt a smile creep up his face, once again his face felt warm. 

“I adore you too, Lele.”

Chenle giggled, slapping Jisung on the arm.

Around ten minutes later, Jisung was walking to meet Chenle after getting a surprise for him. He had gotten an idea from Chenle when he showed him the “I adore you” card. So he bought a bag of cards saying similar, sweet after he had ordered the older to go to other stores. He would meet him there after he bought the cards. 

When he met up with Chenle, the other was also holding a bag, shivering slightly as he looked around for Jisung. He was so cute, without even trying. Not to sound like a total stalker, but he’d watch Chenle all day if he could. 

Creeping up quietly behind the older, Jisung held back his chuckles once he was close enough and threw his jacket he was wearing over Chenle’s eyes. 

He jumped when a dolphin scream bursted from the smaller’s mouth and Jisung started laughing hysterically when his jacket was launched back at him, hitting him in the face. 

“You asshole! That scared the shit out of me, what the fuck?” 

Jisung only laughed harder as the green-haired boy pouted at him, punching him lightly in the arm. Once he calmed himself down, he straightened up and handed over his jacket to the smaller boy. 

“Here, you were shivering, that’s why I threw it at you, Lele.” 

The rosy blush settled high on the dolphin’s cheeks once again, and grumbled under his breath before he took the jacket and pulled it on. 

Of course, this wouldn’t be Zhong _fucking_ Chenle if he didn’t manage to completely throw Jisung into gay panic without any warning whatsoever. Chenle threw a wink Jisung’s way.

“How do I look?” 

The green-haired boy tapped Jisung’s nose, who was once again thrown off his game, his mind a mess because Chenle looked _so_ good.

“Thanks!”

A shit-eating grin settled on Chenle’s, while Jisung was just stubbornly staring, flushed over and a mess. Chenle laughed and grabbed Jisung’s hand, dragging him to the middle of the plaza, where he turned to face the younger, squeezing Jisung’s bigger hands in his own. 

“Let’s dance!”

Jisung was confused, but nonetheless still flustered.

“Are you crazy?”

“Yes.” 

The marketplace was playing some upbeat music, and it was still raining, by the way. And Chenle was grinning at him, holding his hands so tightly, wearing his jacket and his clothes and he just asked him to dance. 

To say Jisung was having a complete mental breakdown internally would be an understatement. 

However, he gradually started to step to the beat of the music trying to figure out what the hell Chenle meant by dancing. He received a giggle in response. 

“No, idiot. Just go with the music.”

Yes, cause that helped. Still, with no idea what the hell Chenle meant, Jisung found himself being pulled around as Chenle started bouncing and jumping to the music. At first, Jisung’s thoughts went along the lines of:

_Oh hell no. Everyone’s gonna fucking judge us, what the fuck do I do why did he think this was a good idea-_

And then he met Chenle’s eyes. And he couldn’t give less of a shit who saw. 

So he danced with the boy, and they probably looked mentally insane, and people were probably judging them, and they were probably going to catch a cold, but their laughs were so loud and their smiles were so bright it tuned out all of that. 

Every time he almost slipped, Chenle would hold his hands tighter, and together they danced in the rain. 

 

-

 

That was the end of their expedition outside for the day, as Jisung could feel the exhaustion of being outside so long in the day time caused. 

They walked home comfortably, talking about little things here and there. Honestly, Jisung had never felt so content with anyone in his life. And well, that was because he’s never met somebody quite like Chenle before. 

When they arrived at the door to Jisung’s apartment, Chenle stopped him from going inside. 

“Give me your key, I want to do a thing,” the older demande cutely. 

“What? Why?”

“Shhh, it’s a surprise. Gimmie.” 

Jisung still wanted to protest, but one look at the dolphin’s pouting face was enough to break down his defenses. Sighing, he helplessly handed over his keys and sat back against the wall opposite his apartment. 

Maybe ten minutes later, his door was opened and Chenle was finally beckoning him inside. He walked in cautiously, eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

“What did you do?” Jisung asked the smaller, who was wearing a mischievous grin. 

“Oh, you’ll find out in time. Don’t worry.” 

Now Jisung was actually worried, but he decided to shrug it off. He trusted Chenle. 

Jisung turned around to hide his bag of cards he had bought under his bed when he noticed a card sitting on his dresser. He placed his bag down and picked up the card, tilting his head. 

The front was blank, with a little simple smiley face on the front. He opened it, and inside were simply the words, “You make me smile.”

Jisung felt his eyes water a bit and he turned around to find Chenle standing in the doorway, smiling a small smile as he watched the younger. Jisung sat down on his bed and wiped his runny eyes, feeling like an idiot, chuckling weakly. 

“You know you didn’t have to make me cry, asshole."

Chenle sat down next to him and hummed in response. There were a few more moments of silence before it was broken yet again by Chenle. 

“You know, I used to go to the only mirror in my room and actually practice my smile in order to seem normal, in order to feel like I wasn’t burdening anyone. I wanted to hide what was really going on, because in reality? I just felt nothing. So, I can kind of understand you when you talk about feeling nothing, Sungie.” 

Jisung looked over to see Chenle smiling lightly, curled up on the edge of his bed with his knees to his chest. 

And the younger felt a strong urge in that moment to simply scoop the older in his arms and protect him from the world. It wasn’t fair that he was put through that much bullshit, and Jisung’s thoughts stumbled over themselves trying to find an appropriate response to that. His mind blanked and he instinctively did the first thing he could think of. 

He leaned over and kissed Chenle on the cheek, longingly. 

Fighting back his blush, Jisung mumbled to the other who was staring at him with wide, surprised eyes. 

“You can feel this.”

Slowly, a matching smile split on Chenle’s face.

“Well, I’ve never needed to fake a smile with you in the first place.”


End file.
